Perennial Trigger book III: Culminations
by Jerm
Summary: The invasions are over. And in the aftermath, the world is rebuilding. But all is not right. Soon, a select few will find that their paths are set to determine once and for all what is to become of a damaged time frame and the worlds trapped within.
1. Chapter 1

CHRONO TRIGGER CULMINATIONS  
by  
Jerm

Chapter 1

* * *

Summer was ending.

The reconstruction of Guardia Castle continued unabated. The main floor and basement were long finished. The kitchen and dining hall, being a priority, had gone first and were now filled with cooks and their chef, as if nothing had happened. The upper floor was only a couple of weeks away from joining the levels below it, though the sleeping quarters had been finished already under the same circumstances as the kitchen. Only the towers and parapets remained on the list for longterm repair.

And while fall was around the corner, the summer season continued unabated. The sun shone down, giving its warmth to the castle's denizens and, coupled with a cool breeze, created the perfect working weather. Dozens of soldiers and workers took advantage of this to double their efforts in the rebuilding, trying to remain on schedule. They would alternate their shifts between groups so some could eat and sleep-and just enjoy the day-while fresh workers replaced them. The pattern had become automatic to them in its repetitiveness.

But it was necessary. While this day was nice, the promise of an approaching fall reminded them that not every day would be such. The queen had issued an order that the castle and town of Truce be completely rebuilt before winter set in. And after the brief, tumultuous reign of Pret, the nation of Guardia gave Nadia's orders a lot more respect than they normally would their ruler.

Far above the castle, a single bird broke from its flight pattern and descended to find a spot to rest. It dropped gracefully and perched on a link of the chain that held onto the drawbridge at the front of the castle. None of the hurried workers paid it mind, so the bird immediately took to the task of preening itself. But rest was not all it was here for.

For lots of people usually meant lots of discarded leftovers. Its avian eyes scanned the treeline surrounding the castle, to the shade where some soldiers had taken their meals. It spotted several potential targets and began to wait for a morsel to find enough distance for the bird to make a quick grab. The bird hunched slightly, picking out its prey...

Only to be distracted moments later as Lucca made her way out of the castle gates carrying a loaf of bread and some sort of picket sign slung over her shoulder. Chewing a piece of the bread already, she glanced at the bird as she passed by, then did a double-take.

"Oh, hello there," she greeted the bird as she slowly laid the sign down so it leaned against her hip, "Hungry?"

She tore a piece off of the loaf and slowly offered it to the bird in a show of some bizarre hope that the bird wasn't afraid of people. But the bird wasn't having any of that. It quickly turned and took flight, leaving a dejected Lucca behind. She signed and ate the piece herself, then slung the sign back over her shoulder and carried on towards her original destination.

The bird gained altitude and then leaned, aligning itself to a southward flight. The wind picked up, allowing the small animal to simply hold out its wings and glide. It was no seagull however, and it would beat its wings periodically during its flight. Soon it was hovering over Zenen Bridge and the dozens of people who crossed it.

Trade and travel between Porre and Truce had once again resumed normal levels as the economy of Guardia climbed its way out of the pit that war and corruption had dug. And many of the visitors from Porre were helping in the rebuilding of Truce as well. The kingdom's unity was beginning to shine through once more.

The bird made another turn after it passed the bridge, now heading southeast. Towards Fiona's Forest. Soon the bridge disappeared as the mountains of Denadoro overtook the horizon. The bird crested over the peaks and dove down towards the forest that lay in the valley. Its home was here and was a sure spot for food, albeit food that was much more mobile. As the forest spanned out below it, it searched out a spot to make its initial landing. The bird finally found a place that satisfied it and dove once more, disappearing into the greenery.

The trees of Fiona's Forest shifted and waved in the strong winds that had brought the bird, the leaves rattling noisily as they battled the air. Sunlight shone from a cloudless sky and streamed its way through the canopy to heat the woodlands below. A warm summer day was being enjoyed here as well.

But in the midst of the forest, one tree stood out. Against the sea of green was a single spot of red. A sign that this beautiful summer was indeed slowly ending. The wind seemed to hit this tree twice as hard. The leaves, already preparing to depart, had an almost tentative grasp on their home. And then it happened.

A single leave tore off and the wind stole away with it. Fall had officially begun.

The leaf gyrated and spun as the wind played with it, taking a northeastern path towards the ocean. It wrapped around the mountains and was soon out to sea. It trekked across the endless blue, sometimes hovering just inches above the water, but its descent always reversed by a new gust. The sky was an endless blue sea itself and the leaf took to it in much the same way it played with the water.

Soon land could be seen again as an island approached. The leaf turned and traced the shoreline northward. A bridge approached now and it made a beeline for the structure. Soon the leaf reached the bridge and, satisfied with itself, did a pirouette over it.

It was then handily batted away by the well-aimed swing of a picket sign.

Satisfied, Lucca popped the last bite of bread in her mouth and began to dance her way across the rest of the bridge towards her home, treating the sign as though it were her dancing partner. Warm weather always put her in a good mood.

xxxxx

"Knock, knock!"

Cid looked up from the book he was reading and glanced towards the front door, wondering if his ears were playing tricks on him. Half sure it really was Lucca, he prepared to close the book and check.

"Bam! Bam!" Lucca yelled a little louder, removing any thought that he was hearing things, "I am pretending I am banging on your front door, Cid! Open it!"

Cid shut the book and quickly tucked it into the bookcase, "Why don't you just really knock?"

"My hands are full," Lucca informed him, "I need you to open the door."

"I'm coming, hold on," Cid rounded the table and reached for the door, swinging it open.

There was no sign of Lucca outside, however. In the literal sense, at least. Instead, his eyes were drawn down to be greeted by another sign entirely, a flat square board nail into a stake that had been quickly stabbed into the dirt.

"Lucca and Sid's Gadget Repair," he read the sign out loud, then rolled his eyes, "You misspelled my name, you know."

"Nope, Crono did," Lucca announced, appearing from the side of the door with a flourish, "He's the one that made it. He also misspelled 'gadget' but I had him fix it."

"Well, why didn't you tell him to fix my name, too?"

"I thought it was funny," Lucca pulled the sign out of the dirt and stepped inside her house, "What'd you get done while I was away on business?"

Cid shut the door as she passed him and made as if to strangle her behind her back before replying with a more level tone, "I just organized everything into their own piles for now, you didn't tell me where they would end up."

Lucca glanced around and finally noticed the organized clutter that surrounded them. Various piles of junk and the few inventions that actually worked. Truth be told, she had left in a bit of a hurry and her instructions to him had been brief at best. So instead of trying to turn the accusation around on Cid, she thought out the blueprints to her plan.

"Alright then," she tossed the sign down on the table, "Let me get a mental picture here and we can get started. And I'll tell you how my trip went as we go."

xxxxx

"Hey, help me move this!"

Cid looked up from his position in the doorway, a large piece of metal and electronics bundled in his arms. Lucca was standing across the room beside the bookcase, looming half again as tall as she was. She was casually leaning against it, although obviously winded. He quickly discarded the junk in a move very close to dropping it. The machinery struck the ground with a dull and muffled ring as Cid half-stepped, half-tripped over it on his way to help Lucca push the bookcase away from the corner of the room.

"Careful with that, Cid," Lucca chided him, "That junk today will be something useful someday later... when I get around to messing with it."

Cid gave a brief look back at the pile, as if he could tell from where he was if it was still in functioning order. "Sorry," he replied shaking his head, then changed the subject, "Why are we moving this?"

"We'll pile the pieces in the corner," Lucca jerked her head back to indicate the corner behind her, "The bookcase was in the way."

"Ah," Cid nodded knowingly, "That's not very organized."

"Eh," Lucca shrugged off his accusation, "We're running out of room already."

"Maybe we could just throw some of it away, then," Cid offered as he stepped beside her.

"No," it was a simple answer, but she offered it with little room to argue.

Lucca absentminded wiped her hands on the shins of her pants. They were still oily from the process of digging up all the spare parts in the house. The job was foreseen to be dirty, so she had changed into a dark brown shirt and pants before they began. Not only did they go well with her hair, any stain on them would be near invisible. On the flipside, Cid was wearing the same clothes he had worn all day: a normal gray shirt and dark blue pants. Getting his clothes dirty wasn't as much a worry to him.

They both put their shoulders into the bookcase, grunting with the effort. To reward this, the fixture began to slowly slide away, making a noise of wood scraping on wood as it grated across the floor. Both of their feet began to slip as the bookcase attempted to resist the pushing.

"How far do you want this then?" Cid asked in a strained voice, as he switched his position to lean on the bookcase with his shoulder.

The new position wasn't working and Cid was forced to switch back to his hands. Lucca lowered her head, giving the object an extra hard push, then replied, "Just a few feet, we don't need too mu-"

Before she could finish, the bookcase tilted away from the wall and began to topple over. "Ah, great," Cid muttered, running around to try and hold it up.

He wasn't fast enough however, and he jumped out of the way quickly as the bookcase fell over at his feet with a loud and dominant thud. Several small thuds accompanied it as the books merrily deshelved themselves under it.

"Damn it," Cid's voice was frustrated, and he gave the bookcase a small kick before bending over to try and lift it back up.

"My fault," Lucca said, squatting down to help, "I should have known it was too tall and too narrow for any real balance... Could have at least moved the books out, too."

Cid and Lucca pulled, lifting the now empty bookcase up into the air. When it was tilted at chest level, they spun their hands around and hefted it over their heads. Cid began to step forward to push it back up against the wall, but Lucca stopped him, "Hold onto that, I've got to get the books out of the way. Don't need to be stumbling all over them with this heavy thing over our heads."

She released the bookcase, nearly causing Cid to lose his hold and drop it onto her. Cid replanted his feet, managing to hold it for the moment. Lucca ducked under him and began to push and toss books out of the way in a casual manner.

"By the way," Cid began, trying to force his mind away from the concept of dropping the bookcase, "You talked with Crono and Marle while you were at the castle, didn't you?"

"Yeah, briefly," Lucca replied with a quick nod before turning back to the pile of scattered books.

"...And?" Cid pressed, hoping the question would have segued into something.

"And what?" Lucca asked oblivious to his intentions, then shook her head as her memory hit, "Oh, _that!_Yeah, I told them about it."

A little over a month had passed and everything had been returning to normal in the wake of the spectres. Cid had finally been feeling secure in acting on Marshall's last will, where he had asked Cid to reclimb Death Peak and find his sword, to reclaim it. He was hoping that Marle and Crono would be able to help him with supplies to get ready for the trip.

Cid fought down the urge to let go of the bookcase as she continued to draw out her answer without actually answering him. Instead he pressed her again, keeping his tone level, "I ask again, what did they say about it?"

"They said 'no'," Lucca deadpanned as she continued to toss the books away before focusing on a titleless hardback.

"They said _what?_" Cid was taken aback at the answer.

Lucca shook her head and gave a short laugh, "They said 'yes', Cid. What did you think they'd say?"

"Okay fine, stupid question," Cid retreated and decided to change the subject a little, "I still haven't decided when to go, though."

"Yeah, I told them. They said whenever you were ready, it's up to you," Lucca assured him as she tucked the book under her arm and stood back up, "Okay, let's get this guy back on his feet."

Together, the two managed to lift the bookcase back against the wall. After it was upright once more, Lucca held the remaining book up towards Cid, "What's this? It's not mine that I remember."

Cid picked it from her hand and flipped through the blank pages. His memory slowly brought the answer to his lips, "It was something I got for a special project a while back. I'd almost forgotten about it."

"Which was?" Lucca asked curiously, bending over to start putting the books back where they belonged.

Then she remembered that they were to finish moving the bookcase first. Groaning, she dropped the books and walked back over to the side of it, patting Cid's back as she passed to get his attention. He lazily raised his head and followed her, "I was thinking about being a writer, in a way. Marshall's life was so intriguing; I was planning on putting it to paper... before he died..."

"Would he have-" Lucca paused in her question as she began pushing once more with Cid following suit, "-let you?"

The bookcase slid much more easily this time, creeping along the floor much faster, the weight of the books removed.

"Maybe," Cid tried to shrug, but failed, "He's done so much for me, I felt like this would be a good way to repay him."

"I don't know," Lucca seemed dubious, "Some people prefer to forget certain things, he seemed like one of those people."

The bookcase reached a spot Lucca was satisfied with and she stopped pushing. She dusted off her hands, knocking out several splinters, and walked around Cid to start collecting the fallen books. Cid knocked his knuckles against the bookcase, congratulating it on not falling over again, and followed suit, "I don't know. I guess that's why I haven't started it yet. I was hoping first I could-"

"Wait," Lucca said suddenly, stopping Cid, "They need to be alphabetized. By author."

"You're kidding me," Cid stared at the pile behind him, at least two hundred books, "I hope you're kidding me."

"C'mon Cid," Lucca pressed, "If not now, I'd have to do it again anyway. The time we would save by not doing it would be nothing compared to the time saved having to look at random books to find the one I'm looking for."

"Okay, okay," Cid rolled his eyes and stared at the books in his hands. Quickly, he changed his mind, "Forget it. Let's just do all of this later, okay? We'll take a break and get some fresh air for a while."

Lucca glared at him briefly for being so lazy, then softened a bit. She turned down to the books at her feet, thoughtful. Absentmindedly, she began to tap the book in her hand with her finger. Finally, she tossed it aside, "I guess it is too nice a day to be wasting. Okay, but not for too long."

xxxxx

"Do you think we'll ever need The Gatekeeper again?" Cid asked as they walked together along the cliffs above the ocean, just south of Lucca's home, "I mean when I get back."

"I sincerely hope not," Lucca replied, then shook her head, "But you can't tell. I just don't trust it to not be misused."

"By one of us, or just some curious trespasser?" Cid asked, smiling faintly.

Lucca thought over this one for a few seconds, "I'm not sure," she rolled her eyes, "I guess both. And I mean that, seriously."

Behind the evasive answer she gave, memories from past Gatekeeper mishaps bubbled up. She mentally swatted them away.

Cid stopped walking and sat at the cliff's edge, looking out at the ocean. Lucca ceased as well, and took a seat next to him. Together, they looked southward for several moments before Cid spoke again, "Crono said a while back, he said that things like Nikades and Lavos were occurring more and more often as time went along..."

"And we might need The Gatekeeper any time now when the next threat comes along?" Lucca finished his sentence. She leaned back on her arms, "I really think we've stopped everything now... I mean, what else is there?"

"If there's something else, it'll show up soon. According to Crono, that is," Cid replied, he absently scratched his nose, then sniffed.

"Allergies?" Lucca tilted her head at him.

"No, it's nothing," Cid waved his hand dismissively, "The wind, I think."

"It's still pretty warm," Lucca observed, "Are you sure?"

Cid nodded, "I don't think I have any allergies, anyway."

"Mm," Lucca let it go, slowly rocking on her arms.

It was now nearing dusk, and the sky was darkening. They had spent the whole day working on cleaning up the house. Cid could only imagine how long it would take to alphabetize the books. He was sure of one thing, though: he was tired. Very tired.

After several moments of thinking, another question came to mind, "What did you and Marle talk about while you visited? Instead of me, I mean."

"Oh, nothing," Lucca shrugged, "Small talk mostly. I don't remember."

"So basically you two just talked about me," Cid nodded knowingly, turning her answer around to tease her.

"Well, if you want to be bored by the details, we also talked about me getting a permit so we can start up this business of ours," Lucca ignored Cid's joke answer, "And then she had me crunch numbers to figure out the economic impact-"

Cid laughed, interrupting her, "I asked for that. Okay, what about Crono? Did you talk economics with him?"

"Well you know about the sign," Lucca began, "But after that we didn't talk much. He left a few hours after I arrived and didn't get back until the next day. He's been real busy with something of his, I guess."

"With the reconstruction?"

Lucca shook her head and her eyes became distant for a moment, "I don't know."

The talking stopped and the two simply watched for the last few minutes as the sun attempted to hide itself. As the world around them slowly darkened, the sound of the nightlife quietly erupted around them. Finally, when the sun had vanished, Cid slowly stood up, stretching.

"I'm getting tired; it's been a long day... Too long," he stretched again, then held out his hand to help her up, "How about you?"

Lucca looked out at the black ocean before her for a second longer, lost in thought. Then she smiled and accepted his hand. He hoisted her up, and together they walked back to the house.

xxxxx

Lucca awoke, her eyes slowly opening. She had been having a fairly dark dream that was not quite a nightmare. It was nothing new to her though, she had been having them since the Nikades saga. Though they had been dying down as of late. Lucca sat up in bed, leaning back against the headboard as she rubbed her eyes. Maybe she had been stressing too much, that might've brought the bad dreams back.

But she was worried about Cid going after Marshall's sword. She didn't admit it to him of course, but they both knew it was a dangerous trip if he wasn't careful. Not only that, she was still worried that Cid wasn't fully healed. Mentally more than physically, that is. Everything that had happened had piled up and taken a massive toll on him by the point it was all finished. She and Marle had both discussed it during her trip and neither were sure he was really of sound mind yet.

Lucca quietly tapped her head against the wooden headboard, trying to piece together what made Cid tick. He seemed so impulsive, ready to blame any hardship on himself. What kind of life must he have lived to become someone like this. He was better about it now certainly, but how much, how little of an effort was needed to bring him back into the despair. That was what scared Lucca the most, the fact that she couldn't control him. Well, not control in that sense, something more along the line of predict. Or understand. Sometimes she wondered if talking to him even helped, or if it just deepened his wounds. Was he just letting it all out or fueling himself and his emotions.

It wasn't so much as a self-hatred as it was distaste for the world. His mind wasn't clear, that was most definite. His choices often contradicted each other; one moment he would be strong, the next he would be blaming everything on himself and giving up on the world.

Lucca began to think of what Marshall had written for Cid. She had already read the front, where Marshall had told Cid not to blame himself. It had had little effect apparently, though Cid hid it well. He seemed to be getting better at hiding things, even from himself.

Marshall had been the only person she had seen who could bring out the best in Cid. Cid had seemed so positive and happy when Marshall was there. He had almost seemed like a father, now that Lucca thought about it. But even then, Marshall's influence died with him, and Cid just sank deeper and deeper.

Lucca didn't want to blame herself because it sounded self-centered, but she felt that her 'death' was what drove Cid over the edge. She had hoped that that was true, because she wasn't really dead and Cid shouldn't have anything to grieve about. But it wasn't. Now Marshall was gone, and Cid wasn't improving on the inside. Just flashing around smiles on the outside so that people wouldn't pity him.

And now he was going to take a trip down memory lane.

She heard the creaking of a bed in the other room, her parents' old room where Cid slept. Immediately, she stopped tapping her head against the headboard, wondering if she had maybe woke him up. But only silence returned. He was just rolling in his sleep, more than likely. A restless sleeper.

And that thought made her worry even more.

She slipped back down on the bed, wanting to go back to sleep. All this worrying would turn her into the same thing she feared Cid would become. And if that happened, nothing would stop Cid from completely falling. She took a deep breath as she closed her eyes and calmed her mind. Eventually, she was once more asleep, and her new dreams were just the kind she liked: the kind she didn't remember when she woke up.


	2. Chapter 2

CHRONO TRIGGER CULMINATIONS  
by  
Jerm

Chapter 2

* * *

Cid lay in bed in a daze, not really sleeping but neither really awake. His body refused to shut down despite the fatigue bearing down on it, leaving his mind unable to focus as it jumped between thoughts and ideas at random in a half dream. He rolled over onto his back, trying to find a more comfortable spot, but it wasn't comfort that was keeping him awake. It was the stress of anticipation.

He had taken the first step in following up on Marshall's will and now he was locked into going through with it. Trapped by responsibility. The daunting task ahead of him filled his head with questions and doubts.

And as much as he tried not to think about it, it was keeping him awake.

Eventually he became aware of a dim light beaming through the window over him, telling him it was early morning. He rolled back over face down and threw the pillow over his head, groaning in frustration. He pulled up his knees, preparing to give up the fight and get out of bed, but then paused.

He should at least get a couple of hours of sleep, he told himself and slumped back down on the bed. It was a long day of work ahead of him and it would be longer if he wasn't rested even a little.

Cid took a deep breath and cleared his mind as best he could. He couldn't take much more of this.

Eventually though, he drifted off to a much-needed sleep.

xxxxx

Cid slowly opened his eyes as his nose caught the scent of food downstairs. The rest of his body woke itself up as his mind took charge and translated the current information for him: Lucca was cooking breakfast. He smiled to himself, feeling much better now than he had earlier, and glanced at the window again. Still only a dim amount of light shining through, he hadn't slept all that long.

Yet even so he felt rested albeit a little hungry.

Cid crawled out of bed and dug around for some clothes to put on. Once dressed, he staggered out of the room and followed his nose down the stairs towards the kitchen. Reaching the bottom, he rounded the corner and found Lucca hovering over the stove, her back to him. He quickly scoured his surroundings for something harmless to throw at her unaware form but changed his mind soon after, he just wasn't in the mood.

"Hey," he greeted her instead, causing her to give a little twitch.

She half-turned towards him, peering over her left shoulder, "Oh hey, good afternoon Cid."

He made a confused face at this remark and looked out the window again, "Afternoon? The sun's barely out."

She nodded in agreement as she returned to her cooking, "Yeah, barely out if you count cloud cover. It looks like it's going to be cloudy today, Cid. But at least it doesn't look like rain."

Cid groaned out an answer, hating to have slept in so late, despite the circumstances. No wonder he felt so rested, he had been asleep for much longer than he thought. He looked beyond her to what she was cooking and realized it was breakfast anyway, despite the time. Cid laughed to himself at this but decided not to remark on it.

"So how long have _you_been up?" he asked instead, walking past her towards the kitchen window.

He peeked through the curtain briefly to see for himself how late it was. Properly convinced Lucca was right, he shook his head and turned away.

"Just a few hours," Lucca admitted as she turned off the burner under one of the frying pans, "I wore myself out yesterday, I guess. With all that running around."

"I wouldn't doubt it," Cid agreed, stepping out of the kitchen and into the dining corner; when he saw the table was bare he changed the topic, "Should I go ahead and set the table while you cook?"

"If you're suddenly feeling helpful, go ahead," Lucca gave a quick glance to him to tell him she was joking, "This'll only be a few more minutes."

xxxxx

"So what are our plans for today?" Cid finally asked as he finished loading his plate with food.

"First we need to finish up with the bookcase," Lucca reminded him as she brought a forkful of hash browns to her mouth, "And then the rest of the rearranging stuff, too."

"Fair enough," Cid nodded, "Should we go ahead and put up our new sign?"

Lucca shook her head as she chewed her food. After swallowing she answered, "No, no. It's going to be a month at the least before we need to start with all of that. First we need to just get the house prepared to hold a business. Not to mention..."

She left the last part hanging as she chewed, but gestured in his direction with her fork. He knew what she meant: his trip to Death Peak.

"Yeah, about that," he began hesitantly, drawing out the last syllable as he fought back the doubts, "I was up all night thinking about it and-you could have probably guessed that though-and I think I want to start on it as soon as possible. Before the week's out."

Lucca's eyes widened, the admission catching her off guard, "Really? So soon?"

"Yeah," Cid nodded as he took another bite, "I want to get it over and done with. And I don't mean that in a disrespectful way to Marshall; it's just that it's been eating at me the last couple of weeks, and last night especially. I get all stressed out when I know something big's coming up."

"Ah... I used to be like that, when I'd be preparing to present one of my inventions," Lucca admitted, then asked, "And you're still intent on doing it alone, aren't you?"

"Yeah, it's probably better that way. Marle and Crono have so much to do as it is."

"And me?" Lucca beamed an exaggerated smile his way.

"Sorry," Cid tried to find a way to phrase it, "I just feel like this is something I should do alone. I don't know why. I guess I just don't want to be a bother to anyone, as silly as that sounds."

"Yeah, that's pretty silly," Lucca agreed with a serious tone, "The trip's not going to be a vacation, you know."

Cid covered his mouth as he replied as he was still chewing his current bite, "I know that. It's that... One moment."

He cut off and waited to swallow before continuing. Lucca politely waited him out, taking another bite for herself. Finally, Cid put his thoughts together, "I know it's not a vacation. And I think that a vacation is really what you need right now. I don't know what all you've been through all that time after Nikades but I don't want to just drag you off on another big adventure so soon."

"Okay, okay," Lucca held up her hands defensively, "I was just making sure. This is all up to you, I don't want to force anything you don't want."

Cid wanted to argue that, but realized the conversation was just going to go downhill from there. He had wounded her pride despite his efforts not to, and she hinted that he didn't want her help. It was best to let it settle down and continue this talk later. Instead, he mumbled a wordless reply and finished his meal in silence. She followed suit.

xxxxx

"Crono?"

Marle peeked her head into yet another room of the castle as she searched for the elusive redhead. After finding it was as empty as all the other rooms she had searched, she sighed and continued on down the hall. With each step, she became more and more angry.

_Why does he do this to me?_she thought to herself in as loud a voice as her mind could muster.

With a full head of steam, she rounded a corner and saw the chancellor standing near the stairwell. He would be the next best thing, she realized. Marle locked onto target and made a beeline for the unsuspecting victim. He was talking with one of the castle guards but the conversation stopped dead as they realized their approaching queen was not in the best of moods.

"Chancellor, do you know where Crono went off to?" she demanded.

"No, I'm afraid I don't, Your Majesty," he shook his head, "I assume he's wandered off again?"

Marle glared at him in response and gave a stiff reply, "It's starting to look like that, yes."

The guard edged away from the two, not wanting to get caught in the middle of the conversation if and when it exploded. Finally, he decided it was safer just to take his break outside and departed down the stairs, leaving the two alone.

"I thought you said you had him helping out on the left tower," Marle continued, ignoring the fleeing guard.

The chancellor shrugged, "I thought I did, too. But I can't control him, you know."

Marle opened her mouth to respond, but caught herself as she realized she was about to start yelling at the wrong person. She clenched her fists and forced down the emotion before speaking in an even though aggravated tone, "Well have your guards on the lookout. When he gets back I want to be the third to know _at the latest._"

She held her hand out between them and ticked off the numbers with her fingers, "The guard who sees him, the messenger who relays the message, me. Got that?"

The chancellor nodded, deciding not to anger his queen any further, "I'll be sure everyone gets the message."

He began to follow the guard down the stairs but her voice stopped him in his tracks, "I'm sorry. I don't mean to be like this."

Turning back to face her, he gave a quick bow, "No need to be, Your Majesty. I understand the situation."

And then he was gone.

Marle sighed to herself, trying to calm her nerves. "What _situation?_" she asked herself sarcastically.

Tired of everything, she turned away and headed back towards her room to rest. She could vent all she wanted when Crono got back.

xxxxx

"Come on, Cid, would you hurry up?"

"One moment!" he yelled back.

Back up in Cid's room, he was quickly gathering stuff he would need to take with him. Which was harder than it sounded as his room had turned into a mess during the renovations. He rummaged through a pile of clothes, trying to find his old coat he hadn't worn in months. It might be useful in the blizzard of Death Peak.

Three days had passed since their lunchtime breakfast conversation. Cid had decided then to set things in motion today, giving them time to finish fixing up the house and organizing things. All the assorted junk piles had been arranged, though not really sorted as much as the two would have liked. The bookcase was alphabetized finally, Cid stalling until the last possible moment for that particular chore. The picket sign however, remained leaning against the wall in the corner, where it would probably remain until Cid returned.

Lucca opened the front door and stepped outside. The cloudy weather of three days ago had refused to go away, and it had brought with it a cold front. The temperature steadily dropped without the sun's presence, though it still remained warm enough to not require a coat or jacket.

Even so, she realized, fall was on the way. Maybe it was a good time after all for Cid to start his trip.

There was a thud from above, breaking Lucca from her thoughts. Upstairs, she heard Cid grunt in pain. Then came a strained, "Oops."

"You okay up there, Cid?" she walked back inside and began to head towards the staircase, intent on checking up on him, but stopped when she heard something heading down the stairs.

Cid jumped down the last few steps, landing loudly, then grabbed the two sides of the entryway and pulled himself into the living room, giving himself a boost as he caught up with Lucca, "Yeah, just tripped over something."

She laughed at this, and they headed outside.

"Well, you've given the day a head start on us anyway," Lucca joked, shutting the door behind them, "It'll be late by the time we get there if you don't hurry."

They had been hoping to reach the castle early, before lunch if possible. It was a surprise visit to begin with, arriving during a meal would be even more impolite.

"I guess," Cid mumbled, keeping in step beside her, "Besides, we'll be there by noon. I've done this before."

"Yeah," Lucca shrugged, unimpressed, "But you ran all the way."

Cid rolled his eyes, "Technicalities, you shouldn't worry about the small stuff."

"So you're expecting me to run all that way? After I'd already been back and forth just a few days ago?" Lucca walked in front of him and began pacing backwards, looking at him inquiringly.

"Oh, you'll live," Cid waved off her excuses and glanced at the sky, "It's almost perfect running weather. Not too hot, not too cool-"

Lucca cut him off, "Okay, if you say so."

Before Cid knew what was happening, he found himself several feet behind Lucca as she turned and sprinted ahead of him. He had no choice but to lower his head and run after her in an attempt to at least catch up.

They were going to be exhausted when they reached the castle, but at least they were making good time.

xxxxx

"You two look tired," Marle commented calmly, as she entered the castle foyer to greet them, "What'd you do, run the whole way here?"

Cid and Lucca stopped panting briefly, giving a look at each other, choosing not to comment. Marle shook her head and disregarded that question, "Anyway, you're just in time for lunch if you're hungry."

Cid nudged Lucca at this comment and replied, "Sure, that would be great. Where's Crono, by the way?"

Marle gave a small flinch at this question and chose her response carefully, "He's out right now, I'm not sure when he'll be back."

Lucca grew a confused look, remembering her last visit to the castle, "He's been doing that a lot recently, hasn't he?"

"Yeah," Marle nodded, her eyes suddenly distant in thought, "I guess he's got a lot on his mind."

"Like what?" Lucca pressed.

"Who knows?" Marle shrugged, smiling again, "I haven't had a chance to ask him yet; he just disappears on his own accord."

Lucca held back a response, deciding not to press for more information. Cid followed her lead and remained quiet. The three milled about for several seconds, each waiting for another to speak up. Soon the silence became awkward.

Finally, Marle turned away and walked towards the right wing of the foyer, "I'm sorry, but I need to go check on a few things. If you want, you can go ahead to the dining hall and get a seat. Lunch will be ready in about ten minutes."

"Okay," Lucca gave a half nod, thankful for the moment to end.

Marle disappeared up the stairway, leaving the two alone. After she was gone, Cid spoke up, "So where's the dining hall?"

Lucca smiled, then grabbed his arm, "C'mon, I'll show you. I can't believe you spent three days holed up in here without eating."

"I spent a lot of that time away from the castle, remember?" Cid corrected her, "I think I spent the very last day here... Uh, not counting when I was out cold."

Lucca laughed in response as they began to descend the stairs. The smell of food hit them immediately. Lunch was indeed being prepared.

"Marle's acting a little off-kilter, by the way," Cid spoke the obvious.

Lucca cocked her head, "I wouldn't say off-kilter. She just seems distracted-and she should be."

"Surely you've noticed her smiles," Cid pressed, "They didn't look too right to me, almost like she was forcing them."

"Cid, she's a queen. I'm sure she gets all sorts of people whining to her about all sorts of stuff," Lucca argued, "Sometimes you _have_to force a smile as they go along... Maybe it was just a habit."

Cid shrugged, but didn't drop the topic. He slowed in his walk, "Then what's going on that she has to hide her discomfort behind a smile?"

"What do you mean?" Lucca slowed down so he could keep up, now curious of his thoughts, "I said she probably smiled like that out of habit, not out of hiding something."

"And if it's both?"

"You're being paranoid, Cid," Lucca said, smiling a bit, "She's just worried about Crono."

"Maybe," Cid admitted.

They reached a table they liked and sat down. Silverware and plates were already set out, though no food had arrived yet. "We'll ask her after we eat," Lucca put the final nail in the conversation, "We'll have plenty of time to talk on a full stomach."

"I'm just saying my piece is all," Cid began to compulsively rearrange his silverware as he tried to end the conversation gracefully, "But you know her better than I do though, I'll trust your opinion."

"Why thank you," Lucca beamed in response.

xxxxx

"So Crono leaves for days at a time?" Cid asked after hearing Marle's side of the story.

With lunch out of the way, they were now taking a walk outside around the castle's perimeter. It was a little past noon, and the sun had finally emerged from behind the clouds, bringing a little more warmth to the day. The castle, still in repair, looked battered but definitely better than when Cid had last seen it. The towers were half-finished, as though they were lazily pointing towards the sky.

"Pretty much, he's really been out of it recently," Marle responded, causing Cid to dart his head away from the view, "Something seems to be bothering him."

They had finally managed to pry Marle's fears out of her over the lonely lunch, and it was much what Cid had expected.

"I don't think that he can accept that it's over," Cid answered, "He might be out searching all the odds and ends to see what's next. Whatever monster jumps out of the woodwork and attacks."

"Sort of like 'looking for trouble'?" Lucca asked.

"Yeah, that's a way of putting it," Cid pushed his glasses up his nose.

"Will it pass?" Marle queried, "His obsession?"

Cid shrugged, "Who knows? If he finds something though, at least it'll distract him enough to pull him out of this."

Lucca turned to Marle, "Did he give any hint to where he was going? Anything he said? Any direction he left on that might lead somewhere he frequents?"

Marle shook her head after each question, increasing the emphasis after each one. When Lucca finished, she added, "No, nothing. He just goes out and wanders off. Doesn't tell anyone."

"I don't know what to say then," Cid pursed his lips, "You could try locking him in his room next time."

"That's crossed my mind," Marle admitted, "I think I'll talk to him first."

They stopped at the corner of the castle and Marle strolled off course to sit down by the water. Lucca and Cid gave a glance to each other and followed her, taking a seated position as well. Marle merely sat and looked at the water for several moments. After some time had passed in silence, Cid grew restless and began scanning the ground around him for a rock or pebble to throw into it. He found a small, thumb-sized chunk of gravel fallen from the castle and hefted it in his hand, before slowing rearing it back to toss.

Marle reached out and calmly grabbed his hand, stopping his throw. She shook her head before turning back to the water, "No, don't disturb it. I just want to look into it."

She released his hand and he casually tossed the rock over his shoulder. He leaned back onto his hands and looked up, quickly turning his head back down and squinting his eyes in pain as he was reminded that the sun was now out. He rubbed his temple in annoyance, trying to find another topic to carry the conversation.

Lucca beat him to it, "Does Crono know how his trips are affecting you?"

"They're not affecting me," Marle said, in full denial.

"Oh come on, we're not stupid," Lucca replied aggressively.

"I don't know then," Marle responded, "I'd have to guess 'no' though. I don't think he'd hurt me on purpose."

"Me either," Lucca admitted, "He just needs to learn to think before he acts, sometimes."

With that Marle got up and started to walk back towards the castle, "Let's go back inside."

"Sure," Lucca stood up as well, Cid following, "Where to?"

"To the top of the castle," Marle said, "What counts as the top anyway. It's a lovely view."

A few minutes later they had climbed their way into an unfinished room, part of the outer wall and most of the roof still incomplete. Cid lidded his eyes as the sunlight surprise attacked him, the second time today. he shook his head, trying to clear the dots in his eyes, and nearly lost his glasses in the process.

Marle took a seat on the floor near the opening in the wall, looking to the landscape to the east with a dull expression on her face.

"So how's life other than these details?" Lucca spoke quickly, as she sat down next to her friend.

Marle scratched her head in thought, "Things have been good. The rebuilding stuff is going well and people are happy."

"That's good."

"I'm just sort of confused, I guess. Maybe it's all just the shock wearing off from all these events. I shouldn't be living in the past like that... Sometimes I just want to take Crono and shake him for being this way."

"I know what you mean," Lucca agreed, "He's been known to get quite focused on things. I remember back when we were kids some fifty years ago or so, his mind would wander and he'd just go off into a trance. For the most part, he'd outgrown that. I thought."

"And now his hobby is to wander off," Marle finished, "It makes the castle seem even more empty than it already is. And it's pretty empty already... Damn it, we just go back to that topic, don't we?"

She sighed and her expression seemed to sink a little, "I miss him."

"Maybe we could have Bekkler make another clone doll of him," Cid pitched, "You could drag it around with you all over the castle, pretend it was Crono. Plus it wouldn't talk back."

The two girls snubbed his humor however. Cid gave up and looked outside once more. "Well, I guess I should bring up why we're here," the boy finally got down to business, "I wanted to follow through on Marshall's will. You probably already knew that, though."

"Oh, oh yeah," Marle blinked, glad for the subject change, "I almost forgot that."

"I needed to ask you for some supplies for the trip, if that's alright," Cid continued, "I really don't have anything to get through Death Peak with."

"Of course," Marle nodded and began to stand up, "All you had to do was ask. I can get you all the food you need, too."

"And you don't want me cleaning out the pantry, right?" he asked impishly.

"Just what you need," Marle stated flatly.

"Cid..." Lucca added warningly, the glare appearing in her eyes again.

"Oh fine," he shrugged.

"When did you plan on leaving?" Marle changed the subject.

"I was thinking tomorrow. As soon as possible at the least," Cid replied, "It's probably going to be a real long search looking for a single sword in all that snow."

"You don't think you'll find it?" Marle asked, Cid's sentence seeming to hold doubt in her ears.

"I don't _know_if I'll find it," Cid corrected her, "If I said I don't think I will and I do, then I'd look like an idiot. A lucky idiot, but still an idiot. And if I said I'd find it, but end up freezing in the cold, then I'd look like a frozen idiot. That's why I'm not guessing."

"You just don't like being wrong," Lucca added her part.

"That too."

Marle laughed at their banter, then asked, "I guess you'll both be staying here overnight then, right?"

They both nodded.

"Okay, I can show you where you'll be staying then," Marle continued, then added, "Don't complain if it's not up to standards, we seem to be doing a little remodeling here and there."

"Seems so," Cid remarked.

"We'll take whatever's open," Lucca answered her, then quipped, "as long as it's not the roof that's open, I mean."

"Good, then follow me." Marle led them back towards the stairs into the castle; however at the first step she turned back to them, "And thanks for visiting, you two. I'm feeling much better now, having someone to talk to about this."

"Glad to help," Lucca bowed to her friend, "I'm a good listener."

She didn't hear Cid's remark to her statement but decided it probably wasn't worth her ears' trouble anyway. Instead, she quickly followed Marle down the stairs.


	3. Chapter 3

CHRONO TRIGGER CULMINATIONS  
by  
Jerm

Chapter 3

* * *

The land was flat and lifeless. Without end, nothing but dirt and rock could be seen in any direction. An infinte shadow drew across the earth as a giant smog-like substance hung in the air, blocking out most light. Everything was given a permanent grey hue. No noise, no movement, no signs of life broke up the wasteland. Truly, it was a dead world.

This was Limbo.

Only one point remained in this world where a hint of civilization sat. The castle, once the bastion of the near-god Nikades and his spectre minions, now stood as empty and lifeless as the world it once dominated. And so it was supposed to remain.

But a change occurred then. In the distance a lone figure appeared over the dull horizon. It slowly stalked forward, marching toward the castle with a single-minded purpose. A black cloak that somehow seemed full of color against the grey backdrop was pulled tightly around the figure, as the world around it was as cold as it was dead.

Despite the covering, the figure gave a shiver, signalling its mortality. It wasn't a spectre. The cloak was pulled more tightly around its host, but did little to help. The cold seemed to seep through all barriers and clutch at the core of anything trapped within it.

Finally, the pilgrim arrived under the archway of the castle's entrance. Weary eyes stared through the gap in the hood, peering at the door in thought. The moment was used to garner a much needed rest as muscles relaxed themselves. Minutes seemed to pass as the figure willed herself into continuing its journey.

Finally a decision was made. Slender and smooth hands reached up to pull back the hood, revealing long, blue hair and a feminine face underneath. Schala stared up at the massive door blocking her path. She had finally arrived.

Here was where she would learn of her brother's fate.

Reaching forward, she put her hand against the door and pushed.

xxxxx

"I hope you know what you're doing, Cid," Lucca stated as they stepped off the bridge towards their home, "Don't take it the wrong way or anything, but it's dangerous out there. Crono's really the only one who went off to an unknown time on his own for any period of time, and I had to go bail him out anyway."

"You're just going to have to trust me," Cid reminded her again, "I've got it all planned out so there should be as little danger as possible."

Lucca didn't bother responding. He had explained his 'perfect plan' to her and Marle over breakfast that very morning while his supplies were being arranged. Instead of going straight to the 2300 era and wandering his way to Death Peak in a strange environment in a strange time, he would go to his own time and make the journey in a more familiar setting. From there he would simply use Nabat's time machine that he had confiscated from the short-lived early model of the Epoch to travel ahead to the future. And from there, it was only a matter of not freezing to death on the abandoned mountain.

Simple enough.

Cid adjusted the backpack that held his recently obtained supplies, the weight of it finally starting to wear down on him. After a moment, he took her silence as an opportunity to add another point, "But you're going to have a bigger task than me, remember?"

Lucca gave him a confused look, "What do you mean?"

Cid sighed, "You're going to have to keep Marle company until the two of you can corner Crono. And you're going to have to see what's wrong with him, if anything."

"I'm sure he's fine," Lucca defended her childhood friend, "He's just under stress is all."

"We all are, I know," he agreed, "Whatever it is though, he isn't reacting to it the right way."

The girl shrugged, "I trust Marle can handle it herself anyway. It's not any of my business anymore."

Cid started to laugh at this, but caught himself, "Anymore?"

"You know what I mean," Lucca rubbed her forehead in thought, "He has a responsibility now and she's going to see to it that he lives up to it."

They reached the house and Cid quickly fell into a heap on the grass near the front door. The backpack was tossed to the side, forgotten for the moment as he rested his tired limbs. Lucca smirked at this and wandered towards the side of the house, where The Gatekeeper was, "I'm going to check up on the machine, you get your rest."

In response, Cid moaned out an indecipherable sound. He slowly pushed himself back up to his feet and followed her around the corner, but found her staring intently at the controls of the machine.

"What's wrong with it?"

"The dial," Lucca responded from her self-made seat on the grass, "I'd never noticed before, but it's been set on Limbo."

Cid bent over, looking over Lucca's shoulder at the panel she was fussing over, "Yeah, so what?"

"Nobody has touched it since we sent everyone back to their own times," she explained, her voice growing a hint of fear.

Cid brushed his hand over the device, wiping away dust to examine the rest of it, "The last person we sent through time, who was it?"

"Schala, why?" Lucca was still curious, but she slowly put it together in her head, "No, wait. Maybe we accidentally changed it while moving it during the cleaning."

Cid jiggled the switch several times, reminding her that it was hard to turn. Then he shook his head, "What if we did send her there? There's no way back."

"But the gate would have been red, wouldn't it?"

Cid stopped his tirade and slowly stood up. He idly scratched the back of his head, lost in thought, "Now that I think back to it, it might have been red. I wasn't really paying attention and it's not like seeing a red gate would have jumped into my head as strange; not after all the ones we've seen."

"I specifically remember seeing it set to her time, though," Lucca continued, "What if she changed it herself-"

Cid finished, "-to get to Janus. My thought exactly."

"Great," Lucca punched her knee, "This just complicates things."

"I'll delay my trip and we can both hunt her down-" Cid began to freestyle a plan, but was cut off.

"No, you're set as it is. I'll go back to the castle and get Marle and Crono to help hunt for Schala," Lucca interrupted, "You do what you have to do."

Cid wanted to argue, but realized that one more person wasn't going to make much of a difference anyway, "Alright, your idea works. But what do we do about the return controls for the Gatekeeper? I'll have Nabat's time machine for myself."

"I know, I know," Lucca wracked her brain, "I can have one of them stay behind and reopen it at intervals or something."

"You could have Marle stay behind," Cid helped, "That would give you some time alone with Crono so you can knock some sense into his head."

"Oh, please," Lucca retorted, but inside her head, the idea made perfect sense.

"I'm sure you can work it out somehow," Cid answered, "But we need to act fast."

Lucca nodded in agreement, then adjusted the Gatekeeper once more, "Alright then, I guess this is good-bye for now."

Cid gave her a half smile, "It won't hardly be long enough to be worth a good-bye, I think."

Lucca nodded, then asked once more just to make sure, "Your own time, right?"

"Right," Cid nodded.

Lucca threw the switch and The Gatekeeper came to life. Bolts of electricity arced around the machine's gate pedestal, flashing white against the faces of the two as they watched. Eventually, a red gate grew in the core of the energy, shifting the glow from white to red.

Cid hitched his backpack on his shoulder once more and stepped towards the tear.

"Good luck," Lucca spoke, really out of anything else to say.

"You, too," he replied, reminding her of her own job.

He turned away from the gate briefly and glanced at her, making eye contact. Wanting to make sure she wasn't worried. But he could see it. She gave a weak smile back at him, trying her best to hide it. It caused him to hesitate, doubts formed in his mind.

Was this really the best time to leave? When everything seemed to be falling apart?

Instinct kicked in and Cid closed the gap in a step and wrapped his free arm around her shoulders, giving her a reassuring hug. With a hesitation of her own, she returned it.

"All the bad things are over and done with, don't worry," he repeated, "Just get Schala, I'll get the sword, and we'll be done with this forever."

He released her and backed up towards the gate once more, "Then we can open up that business and the only thing wrong in the world will be my name on that sign."

Lucca's weak smile broke into a laugh and Cid laughed with her. The gloom had been removed. Satisfied, he turned back towards his choice of transportation.

"Have fun on your vacation then," Lucca called behind him.

Cid stepped through.

xxxxx

"Crono, where are you going now?"

Marle stepped over and blocked the doorway in his path. She crossed her arms across her chest and waited for an answer. Crono, with the same apathetic look on his face, tried to step around her. She merely grabbed his shoulders and pushed him back, stepping by and then pulling him back into his room. He gave no resistance.

"Lucca and Cid came by yesterday, did you know that?" she asked him.

He shook his head and took a seat on his bed after Marle guided him to it. She looked down at him for several moments, then began pacing, "When's the last time you slept? A _good_sleep? I don't even think you eat very well anymore."

Crono sighed and retorted silently, "I'm okay."

"Yes, you're okay now, because I'm not letting you leave here this time," Marle stopped her pacing and gave him a demanding glare, "You're going to lie down and then you're going to get a good 20 or so hours of sleep. And then you're going to eat. And then you're going to repeat this until I think you're healthy again."

Crono tried to sit up, but she pushed him back down. He clenched his hands, "I have to do this. You know that it's not over; there's something else out there."

Marle ran her hand back through her hair, shaking her head in amazement, "Crono, since when did the fate of the world _permanently_lie in your hands?"

"Since we were put in the position to save it," he replied with resolve.

Marle continued to shake her head, speeding up a bit, "It's all _our_ responsibility, not just yours. You can't just go out looking for trouble, you have to wait for it to appear. If you don't, you're just going to fatigue yourself to the point that if something _really_does pop out, you can't do a thing."

"I said I'm okay," Crono repeated, "If we don't stop the threat before it begins, then more poeple will die."

"What threat? Where is it?!" Marle spread her hands out and scanned around her in anger, "You're jumping at shadows, Crono."

"I don't know what or where," Crono admitted, then heated up, "That's why I'm looking, why I'm trying so hard to find it and crush it before it grows."

Marle turned away from him and walked back towards the door, "Get some sleep, forget about this. We'll take what we get. Don't ask for more, you're doing more harm than you think."

She reached the door and stepped outside, turning back to him. He still sat solemnly on the bed, staring at her. But the fatigue showed greatly on him and she couldn't tell if he was looking at her or through her. A slight shiver went down her spine reflexively, "I'm locking this door to make sure you stay inside. I'm also going to put guards outside the window."

"I escaped from prison before, you know," Crono stood up and began walking towards the door, "You can't hold me in here."

"This isn't a prison, Crono," Marle sighed and shut the door before he could reach it. Then she turned the lock and leaned her head against the door, "Please, rest and think about what you're doing."

There was no reply. Marle closed her eyes and sighed again. What was she to do?

She quickly jerked her head away as the door shook under an impact. Crono had hit the door from the other side. She slowly took a step back, waiting for another.

However, nothing but a stretch of silence followed the strike. Finally broken by a quiet remark from the other side of the door. "...Ow," Crono finally said in a weary voice muffled through the wood.

Marle continued to wait for several more seconds, hoping he didn't hurt himself any more. But the next noise she heard was a slight creak as Crono sat back down on the bed. Marle released her breath, realizing that she had been holding it. She turned away from the door and stepped down the hallway, looking for some guards to monitor the parapets.

xxxxx

The shadows quickly enveloped her as Schala stepped under the arched entryway that led into the mysterious castle. She stopped briefly to allow her eyes to adjust to the change, but they seemed to do so at a slow pace. As if there was nothing here but shadows at all. Finally, the outline of the walls around her began to show and she returned to her forward movement.

_I have never been here... Where do I go?_ Schala looked left, then right, then back to the area before her. All led to passages that were nothing more than darkness. Too much darkness. _Where do I go?_

Wary of her surroundings and the fact that she might not be alone in this dreary architecture, she slowly raised her right hand. Fingers open and palm up, she concentrated and a ball of light formed within, illuminating her surroundings for a good thirty feet. Pivoting around, she scanned each corridor, hoping to find a clue as to where to go. They each looked the same.

She went straight.

"Janus?" she called out, admitting that the light gave away her presence anyway.

The path ended soon, branching out to the left and right. But in her path straight ahead was another door. She reached forward, pushing against it. The door easily gave way and swung open noiselessly to reveal a large room before her. She swung her lighted hand around her to get a better look at where she was.

It was the throne room.

Another light glowed from within this room, from a source she had yet to figure out. She took another hesitant step, completely entering the room now. She stepped again, searching out the source of the light.

Sitting upon the throne itself was a piece of crystal, hovering slightly above the seat to give the impression that it was perfectly balanced on its pointed end. Schala took another step towards it, tilting her head to peer at this object, to study it. Something seemed to be inside of it.

"Janus?" she asked again, taking another step, "Are you here?"

**_Leave._**

Schala jumped at the voice, quiet and commanding, as it entered her head. She spun about quickly, looking for a source, but she was alone. Her and the crystal shard. She gave another look at the object, her feet continuing to push her forward. She was curious about it. Curious about what was in it.

**_Please, don't Schala._**

Schala stopped briefly, listening, but the voice was quiet yet again. She shook her head, wondering if it was just her conscience talking to her. But she wasn't sure.

"Who are you?" she demanded to the darkness around her.

Another step forward.

**_Don't..._**

Another.

**_Schala, you don't know what you're getting into._**

The voice seemed frightened now, it was afraid of her reaching the throne. She stopped again, "Give me your name!"

Only silence answered her demand. She shook her head and took another step, and then another. She was now just ten feet from the strange glowing crystal.

**_You must get out of here now!_**

This time the voice was giving a strong order. It seemed strained, as if talking was a painful thing to do. Schala turned around and glanced behind her, suddenly becoming unsure. The exit seemed much farther behind her than she earlier thought. As if the room had stretched itself behind her.

A noise came from the throne. Schala turned back around and gasped as she stared at the crystal. The black thing inside of it was writhing now, slamming itself into the shell of the shard, the only sound a gentle clink. She took a step back as she realized that the being inside was humanoid in shape.

**_Its will exists beyond its physical boundaries! You must escape now! Before it realizes you're here!_**

"Is that you Janus?" Schala asked the voice, "Please tell me what's going on!"

For a response, all light died. The magic in her hand faded away as if covered by infinite shadows. The crystal itself stopped glowing and disappeared into the darkness. For all purposes, Schala was blind.

**_Before it's too late!_**

**_It IS too late!_**

Schala didn't like the second voice. She stepped back, away from where the crystal would be, wondering what would jump out at her in the darkness. A distance howling noise, like a rushing wind, seemed to reach out at her from all directions.

**_RUN!_**

Schala turned and began sprinting as fast as she could, not daring to look back at the crystal even as a red light seeped over her shoulder from behind her. The howling increased, drowning out the voice of Janus. The light stretched forward, illuminating her path, as she dashed out of the throne room. She tried to swing the door shut behind her, but missed it as she passed by, her hand slipping past it. Not bothering to break stride to correct this, she cut her pace into a dead run and hurried down the corridor. The howling behind her still seemed to gain.

Then before her, the walls seemed to shift, to meld into each other and she found herself facing a blocked path. She doubled back in panic and took another passage. Everything was red around her, as if the walls were glowing with the color of blood. Behind her, she heard crashing noises, the sound of something following her, stepping onto a ground that could barely hold it. She pushed off the wall to her right and darted down a left side passage, now completely lost. Even as her hand left the wall, it seemed to shimmer and shift as the castle's structure continued to change.

She turned left and right, taking every passage she could find and trying to lose the thing behind her. But the crashing continued to increase. Ahead of her, the ceiling dropped down like a piston, slamming into the ground and blocking her path. She turned back around to try and find another side passage, but stopped as she saw what was making the noise.

The floor was collapsing, the flagstone bricks falling into a void below in a chain reaction leading to her shaking feet. She slowly backed away, finding the wall and hugging it. There was nowhere to go.

Then the red light died and she was blind yet again. The noise enveloped her and then she felt nothing.

**_I'm sorry..._**


	4. Chapter 4

CHRONO TRIGGER CULMINATIONS  
by  
Jerm

Chapter 4

* * *

Cid wasted no time as he erupted from the gate, stepping away and scanning the new world around him. He smiled briefly. Back in memory lane. It was the same storage room the others had first appeared in, and the one they had returned to when they searched out Nabat. And yet again, it was empty. But not for long.

Cid quickly drew into his backpack and pulled out a set of clothes, his old uniform. They still had a purpose. He quickly pulled them over his existing clothes, then took off his glasses and began to rearrange his hair, lessening the chance of people recognizing him. Satisfied, he zipped up the backpack and stepped over to the door. Glancing at the panel next to it, he drew the code from his memory and typed it up.

The door slid open, happy with his answer, and he stuck his head out to examine the hallways. Random passersby made up the hall's population for the moment, something easy to blend into. He stepped out and did just that, following the path he remembered that led to the building's exit.

He occasionally saw familiar faces, old coworkers, but they didn't notice him through the disguise enhanced with time. Cid looked over them as he passed, shifting into a thoughtful mood once again; and thinking. About what all had happened since his last trip, the things he left behind, and assured others he had no use for. His rented apartment, his belongings, his job. He had promised himself that he had no reason to stay here, he had no reason not to move on with the others. But before everything, he had had a life here. Whatever he may pretend. And while he was hesitant to call them friends, there were people he worked with that he wondered about.

Obviously, Nabat was going to be okay for a while, or maybe. Time really was messed up. His other colleagues were probably scattered about the workforce. Maybe some had stayed, some had left. Some thought about leaving but stayed. Some wanted to stay, but were forced to leave. It had been too long for him to guess what had happened. Then he thought about Carlisle. Obviously not a friend of Cid's, he had still once been a friend of Nabat. Then he had fallen into the web of corruption and the business world. Personal gain had become his friend, and it easily replaced the ones he had lost. The last Cid had seen of him, he was being led away by the military. And then he had been "killed" by the invasion, no doubt.

Well, not really. That never happened in this reality.

_I saw all that destruction and all that panic. But because of one little object, it never happened..._ Cid's train of thought branched out to the Lavos', _Nobody here remembers it, to them it didn't exist. If I hadn't met my new friends, I would be just like them. Living in one straight timeline and not knowing whether or not the one I existed in was the true and chosen path or something altered by the tiniest of things._

Cid stopped his thinking, he was nearing the entrance. He glanced around him, trying to remember the security. None of them were familiar faces. Cid smiled, happy for his luck.

He gave a small wave to the one sitting at the desk as he passed, who ignored him, and pushed open the front doors to step out into his old world. The city. The streets. The cars. The noise. The memories.

He pushed them aside effortlessly and began to chart the path that would take him to his destination. Even if he didn't know exactly where that was.

xxxxx

"Ah, there you are," Marle stated as Lucca stepped into the throne room.

The queen stood and went over to greet her friend as the doors shut, sealing the room. Lucca gave a small glance at the noise, then back to Marle, "Yeah, the guards didn't give me any problems this time."

"That's because I told them to be expecting you," Marle explained.

Lucca looked curious for a moment and tilted her head, "You were?"

"Yeah," Marle nodded back with a smirk, "With Cid gone, I knew you'd be bored."

"Actually," Lucca corrected her, "I'm here for a different reason. Has Crono been around?"

"Yeah, actually he arrived just after you two left," the queen's eyes suddenly darted upwards, and she hesitated briefly before continuing, "He's, um, locked up in the room at the moment."

Marle turned away and headed for the stairway, Lucca following behind, letting the words sink in slowly. A small smile formed on her face and she asked the question she knew she really didn't need to, "Why?"

"It was the only way," Marle shrugged over her shoulder as she began climbing the stairs, "So he won't leave again."

"Couldn't you just tell him to stay here instead?"

"I did," Marle admitted, "_Then_I locked him up."

Lucca sighed, realizing she would only understand by seeing. The two climbed the stairs in silence, reaching the top moments later. Marle dug a key out of her pocket as she approached the wooden door, twirling it absently through her fingers before putting it in the door. She turned back to Lucca, who nodded. The door opened.

Inside, Crono was still asleep on the bed. Marle glanced outside, through the window to see the two guards still patrolling the escape route. Nothing was wrong. Lucca followed her in, laughing briefly at Crono's condition. "Do we wake him up?"

Marle nodded with a smile of her own, "Of course."

She then lifted the hem of her dress and proceeded to kick the bed repeatedly, jarring Crono awake. He jumped up into a seated position quickly, yelling wordlessly. Marle jumped back with a short laugh, avoiding his flailing limbs. Lucca fought back the urge to join in the laughter, covering her mouth with her hand.

Crono fumbled around on the bed for a bit as he regained his composure, finally focusing his tired gaze on the antagonist and giving her a glare, "What'd you do that for?"

Lucca leaned into his line of sight, hands behind her back, "Would you rather I did it?"

He shifted his sleepy eyes over onto Lucca, recognizing her after a brief pause, "Oh, it's you."

"Yeah, just me," Lucca responded, mimicking his dreary tone.

Crono slid off the bed and tried to stand, "Sorry. Hi, Lucca. What's business?"

"Well, now that you mention it, you've missed the last week or so of business," Lucca reminded him, "But to be brief, Cid sent me here."

Crono glanced over at Marle, wondering what her role in this was. She shook her head, "She hasn't told me this part yet, she wanted you awake."

Lucca continued, "When we were about to start up The Gatekeeper, we noticed that the gauge had been set to Limbo. Even after we had set it to other times to return everybody home. So we think there might be a problem."

"Glenn was the last one through," Marle noted, then added when her memory shrugged at her, "Wasn't he?"

"No," Lucca shook her head, "It was Schala. Remember?"

Marle thought back, "I don't know. What did Cid think?"

"He thinks it was her, too. She might have changed it herself to go after Janus," Lucca answered, "But to stay on topic, we need to go into Limbo and look, to see if we might have accidentally sent someone there and not realized it."

"Yeah, that _would_be pretty bad, wouldn't it?" Crono mused, which broke into a yawn.

"Did Cid already go ahead with his errand?" Marle asked, then remembered, "Oh wait. If he hadn't, he'd be here with you. Nevermind."

"How big is Limbo?" Crono asked, "I don't think we could just search it in a moment's time."

"Or a day's," Lucca continued, "But we do have to look. If someone was sent there by accident, they'll know something's wrong. They'll stay by the gate's opening zone, or head to a place familiar to the others until someone comes to get them."

Marle ran her hands through her hair and sat down on the bed, "I don't know, it's been a while now."

"That's no excuse to not search," Lucca argued.

"I know, I was just pointing that out," Marle replied, "Not an argument."

Lucca turned towards Crono, "Are you in this, too? Or do you have something better to do."

"I never have something better to do," Crono rolled his eyes, "This is the thing I've been looking for for a while. A problem to fix."

"Good," Marle nodded, "Then we'll eat here, and then start out. We can form a plan on the way."

"I'm well ahead of you on that actually," Lucca remarked with a flourish, but then added helpfully, "Well, about the plan part anyway... Actually, I haven't eaten since this morning."

xxxxx

Schala awoke in the dark, alone yet again. Silence. Blackness. Numbness. She was left in the faceless void, left with none of her senses. She could have been falling as well, and wouldn't feel the wind rushing around her. If there was any air to rush against her. She might be breathing or she might not be. She tried to move, but realized that that was hopeless as well. She was as much nothing as the blackness around her. Only her consciousness seemed to exist. She accepted this and merely floated, trying to make her mind figure out how and why she was here.

**_Awake?_**

Reflexively, she tried to turn her head to the voice, but realized that that was just as impossible. It seemed to come from everywhere, and she was facing nowhere. There was nothing around her, but she knew that that voice had been Janus'.

She tried to speak, but no sound issued, no voice called to her brother. How had he spoken?

**_Use your mind. In this world between you have no mouth to speak with._**

_Janus?_she quickly sent out her thoughts, probing for the fellow lost soul.

**_I'm sorry._**

His voice was as apologetic as always, yet he never answered her question. Never identified himself. She knew however, that he would only do so when he felt it was right. She may know who he is, but he couldn't accept that yet. She quickly altered her thoughts, _Am I dead?_

Fearing the worst, she awaited the returning voice. To seal her fate with a sentence. She had brought herself to this, after all.

**_No. This is the realm of Purgatory, between life and death. The buffer zone of the sixth dimension._**

_How did I get here? Why didn't that thing kill me?_

**_Murasame's powers are sealed. He cannot breach the worlds, merely place you into the point of least resistance. And I fear he spared you because he has plans for you._**

Schala thought on those words, finding her next question. She had so many questions to ask. And apparently she had the time to ask.

_What happened to you?_

**_I died sealing those powers. You know that. I'm here because it has a use for me as well. You must realize, Schala, that Murasame is not evil. Though its purpose is disliked, it is necessary. Because of me, that purpose has been altered._**

_And it needs you to fix it?_

**_I don't know. It has told me so little recently. I think it's merely storing us in here for now, until it needs us. Then it will summon us once again._**

Schala tried to nod, as pointless as the gesture was, _And we just wait?_

**_That is ALL we can do._**

_Not all,_ she sent one final thought, _Tell me about yourself, Janus. I've missed so much._

xxxxx

Cid pulled himself out of the truck, waving to the driver as he shut the door, "Thanks, man."

The driver merely nodded and sped away, leaving Cid standing on the side of the highway below a sign. He hefted his backpack onto his shoulder and gazed up at the sign:

**WELCOME TO AEGIS COAST**

Cid smiled briefly, turning away from the sign to look at the western horizon. The sun was quickly being covered by the mountains, it would be dark soon. He would have to rest at a hotel here...If he could. He quickly remembered that he was a wanted man now. The only way he could get money was with his ATM card, but was his account still active? Or had it been removed. He had only been gone for several months, so it wouldn't have timed out. But would the military confiscate it?

Vehicles continued to zip past him, entering and leaving the city he stood at the border of. Though he hated to hitchhike, it had been the only way he could get here fast enough. Along with several other things, he had also taken Lucca's blaster. He could defend himself against anybody who became unruly.

Thinking back to his money problem, he fumbled in the back pocket of the uniform, finding his wallet. Still there, at least. He would just have to worry about problems as they appeared. He took a step forward and entered the city. Hopefully none would.

xxxxx

_You're leaving stuff out, Janus,_she interrupted his history.

**_Is that so bad?_** came his reply, **_There are things that you wouldn't want to truly know..._**

Schala thought over this for several moments before replying, _It's your life, your choice. Tell what you feel you should. I shouldn't push you so much._

Janus prepared to continue his condensed version of his life, but faltered as he felt the presence of yet another entity within his surroundings. His essence felt out around him to locate the new being, to identify, though he was already sure of what it was. He brushed something and quickly drew back as he felt enormous power at his touch. Schala's essence felt bewildered, she didn't know what was with them yet.

In response, Murasame finally spoke, **_Are you ready to rejoin me and to learn of my purpose?_**

Janus would have nodded if he could, but had to settle for a "vocal" response, **_As ready as it is possible for me to be._**

**_Then return._**

Janus felt his aura waver as if the world around him was fading away. It felt like he was falling, gaining speed as he did so, though he was blind and deaf to what was truly happening. The pressure began to intensify, pressing into him, as if it was trying to compact him into something smaller. He could almost think he heard something howling at him, though he was sure it was merely his mind screaming against the altercation. Then he was finally able to see as a flash of light blasted his eyes, and for the first time in a long time, he could feel something against him.

He opened his eyes and witnessed the world of the living once again. And once again, he began to breath. Quickly, he reclosed his eyes as he began to uncontrollably gasp for air. His body tried to instinctively double over, but his head hit something and he reeled back in pain. He continued to gasp for air in confusion, his hand rubbing at his throbbing forehead.

**_Don't worry, your body is merely trying to resupply your bloodstream with oxygen. It has been inactive for so long._**

Janus reopened his eyes and noticed a thin crooked line in the air in front of him. Still breathing heavily, he reached out to try and grasp the object. His hand stopped as it struck something hard, making a hollow knocking noise. It was then that he realized that the line was a crack, caused by his forehead earlier. He was in a glass container.

Then, before his eyes, the glass began to fuse together, causing the crack to disappear. Janus reached out once again and felt a magical aura around the mending glass, magic. Moments later, the crack was gone, the glass once again a perfect piece. He drew his hand away, wondering what this was all about.

His breathing had evened out by now and he was finally beginning to think clearly. His memories returning, his thoughts coming back to the front. He quickly looked to his left, finding nothing. His neck pivoted once again, bringing his head to the right as he finally spotted Schala; sealed within a glass cylinder, just as he was. Her eyes were still closed, making him wonder if Murasame had brought her back yet.

"Schala?" he called out to her, but the reverberations of his voice told him that it wasn't carrying beyond his cell. He banged the bottom of his fist against the glass, causing another crack within it; he called out even louder, "Schala?"

The crack began to seal itself once more as Murasame interjected, **_Don't do that. She is fine for the moment, you must give her time, however. Awakening is not instantaneous._**

Janus watched as the crack finished fixing itself, then turned back to Schala, wondering how long it would be. Only a minute later, her eyes flew open and she gasped for breath, just as he had. He began to sigh in relief, but caught it when he noticed something approaching from his side. He turned his head towards this new thing, though he could already feel the presence.

He stood his ground and waited for Murasame to speak.

xxxxx

Cid sighed in relief as the machine accepted his card and some money slid out for him. Just enough for a room and a meal. Beyond this, he only had roughly a few hundred remaining within, he would have to be careful how he spent it all. He quickly pocketed the funds and turned away, letting the next man in line take his turn. He plotted out his position in the town and quickly set out in the direction of the port. He would find a hotel in that area.

As he walked down the sidewalk, he began to think how he would reach his objective. Point one, he would have to get a ferry across the waterway. That would cost him about 20 more. Then he would probably have to stop at another hotel at the town below Death Peak; the name escaped him at the moment.

He jumped from his thoughts as the streetlight above him burst into light, signifying that it was quickly becoming dark. Cid doubled his pace, hoping he wouldn't have to walk much further. It then occurred to him that there might not be any vacancies.

What would he do if he had to sleep in the streets?

Cid shook the brooding thoughts out of his head, he would improvise any way possible if things went bad. That had always been his strength. And luckily his weakness wasn't a factor this time.

He had to stop briefly at an intersection, and he stood impatiently, waiting for the crossing light to give him the go. As he watched the cars pass back and forth before him, he began to wish this town had been a bit bigger. Then it could afford to have some cab companies. That would make things so much easier on him. The traffic soon thinned out as the light switched to first yellow, then red. Then the crossing light switched for him and he quickly jogged across and continued on his way.

_What do I do about rest on Death Peak?_

Cid's thoughts immediately went back to his mission. He had brought plenty of warm clothing in his backpack, but would it protect him if he were caught in a blizzard? Or an avalanche...Cid put the thoughts out of his head. If he wasted too much time worrying about being buried alive in the snow, he wouldn't even follow through with this. Also, as he thought about it some more, it was still late summer, Death Peak wouldn't be so bad at that time of the year.

Hopefully.

Cid turned off his thoughts once again as he neared the port. He could see the ocean beyond the buildings before him, though it was quickly becoming invisible in the incoming darkness. He pressed on, now looking for the first hotel he could find. It wasn't long before one came into view. A fairly decent looking one, it would have to do.

He walked to the door and stepped in, flinching at the overly loud bell that accompanied the opening. At the desk, someone was sitting down, reading a book. Nothing interesting, Cid noted, generic fiction.

He quickly walked over, fishing in his pocket for the money.

"Need a room?" the person asked, putting his book face down on the counter.

Cid nodded as he found the money and fumbled to pull it out.

"We don't take checks, so you'll have to pay in-" the person continued, but Cid cut him off.

"I've got money, don't worry," he said as he finally pulled out the amount he needed and handed it to the person.

The person took the money, put it in the register, and quickly removed several more; change. He handed it to Cid and began to pick his book back up, then sighed and dropped the book again. "Sorry," he said.

He turned around and grabbed a key off of the wall, giving it a small glance before handing it to Cid, "Room 137."

"Thanks," Cid said, pocketing the key as well; but the person had already turned back to his book.

Cid turned and left, heading back outside. It was fully dark now, and the light above him had burned out. Maintenance obviously wasn't too good here. He hoped it didn't reflect on the rooms. He walked along the long row of rooms, passing door after door as he searched for 137. Finding it, he put the key into the door, unlocked it, and quickly stepped in. As he immediately spotted the bed, he realized how tired he really was.

He threw down his backpack and fell back onto the mattress, closing his eyes. He had intended just to have a quick rest, but before he realized it, he was asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

CHRONO TRIGGER CULMINATIONS  
by  
Jerm

Chapter 5

* * *

Cid's eyes opened in a flash, as though a sound had startled him. His face half-buried in his pillow, he allowed his lone uncovered eye to scan around his blurry surroundings, wondering what could have woken him up. He slowly reached over to the end table, taking his glasses and slipping them on as he propped himself up with his free elbow. But they didn't help much, his surroundings remained dark and silent.

Groaning, he reached over to the lamp and flicked the switch. Nothing happened. He flicked it again but still nothing. In the darkness, the quiet seemed to increase, to envelop him. He shuddered involuntarily at the creepy sensation enveloping him and slid out of bed. It made him feel so alone. Like he was the only person around for miles.

It was probably just a power outage, he thought to himself, reaching underneath the bed to pull out his shoes. He would just step outside and have a look for himself. But as he grasped his footwear, a light seemed to cross over the room's window behind him, vanishing instantly.

He straightened up immediately, shoes still in hand. Was it just a car passing? Or someone with a flashlight.

It hadn't made any noise though, couldn't be a car. And now that he thought about it, nothing had been making noise, and the darkness was unrelenting, his eyes failing to adjust at all. It was as if he had gone blind and deaf.

Cid mumbled to himself to assuage the paranoia that was creeping up on him, but even that didn't seem to make a sound. It was as if he was only mumbling in his mind. He quickly put on his shoes and threw on a shirt he randomly pulled out of his backpack and headed for the door. Maybe some fresh air would clear his head. But as he reached for the handle, another chill went through him.

The room behind him seemed to subtly change, as if he had swerved into another reality. He tried to turn around to look at it, but something stopped him, prevented him. That feeling that there was a monster standing behind him, waiting for him to turn and face it before attacking. The irrational fear invaded him, forcing him to grab the door handle and throw it open to clear a path to flee. He couldn't feel the handle either, but knew it was there. It felt like all of his senses had been dulled.

And then the door was open and light came from nowhere to envelope him. He flinched from it, using his free hand to shield his eyes. He cautiously stepped outside, wondering what was going on. The night was gone, it was daytime.

He was no longer in Aegis Coast either. Cid lowered his arm, numb with confusion. He was now standing in a small clearing surrounded by a forest, a solitary oak tree caught in the middle. He turned around to further scout his new surroundings, only to find the hotel room he had left was now a small, decrepit shack. The door was still open, but it seemed to block the light. Only darkness stared back from within. Cid didn't dare enter.

And then a roaring noise brought him spinning around once more, to find the lone tree engulfed in towering flames. Before the pyre stood a small boy, his back to Cid. Judging by his clothes, he was most likely from around Lucca's time. His hand was stretched out, not as if he was reaching for the fire, but as if he had just thrown something into it. Slowly it descended back to his side and slowly he turned. Turned and faced Cid.

Cid took a step back, wondering what to do, what to say. He was still confused by his situation and this wasn't helping. As he trained his eyes to the boy's face, he noticed the eyes were full of fear, and they seemed to be looking straight through him. At something behind him. And Cid knew if he turned around once more towards the shack, he would see something he shouldn't and didn't want to see.

He squeezed his eyes shut, the fear holding him so strongly he was helpless to move his body. He tensed his whole self, trying to will himself back to the hotel. None of this was real. It couldn't be. He stood there for what seemed like forever as everything faded away. The noise and heat and light of the fire and the feeling of a pair of eyes staring towards him. And then he finally realized he was locked in a dream. Or a nightmare.

_Cid?_

His eyes flew open at the sound of his name, expecting the boy. But there was no boy. Along with the forest, tree, and fire; he was gone. There was nothing but darkness. His mind became a jumble of thoughts as he tried to recollect what had just happened to him. He still could not speak and answer the voice that called to him. His mind began to ramble to itself.

_Do you understand, Cid?_

He did not. Cid tried to force sound from his mouth, to reply to the voice and possibly demand an explanation, but nothing came. This was still a dream and he had no form. He could only act what his subconscious scripted for him to do.

_What is being presented to you... You must accept the reality behind it. You must control your thoughts, Cid. You must accept what is around you to understand._

Was the voice another figment of his dream, his wild imagination upping the ante of his nighttime dementia? He tried to force himself awake, but knew he couldn't. That never worked.

_Focus._

The darkness around him vanished for a fraction of a second, like a subliminal frame in a film. For that brief moment, Cid found himself in the clearing once more, with the shack now burning instead of the tree. A tall man stood in the child's place, staring at him with those soulless eyes. And then darkness shattered his vision once more.

_Too late. You must learn to focus. I need your mind to be focused._

Cid reached out, trying to find the source of the voice, still unable to emit a reply. Was someone there or was he simply speaking to himself?

And then there was sound.

Cid jerked awake at the sound of rain pattering outside. He glanced about the fading darkness, trying to understand where he was. He glanced to his side, a huge shadow within the shadows looming over him. A bed.

He was lying on the floor. Back in the hotel.

Cid quickly reached up, fumbling for the lamp, then finding it. He flicked the switch, the click dulled by the pattering rain outside.

And then there was light.

He shielded his eyes briefly from the flash as the room was illuminated. The hotel room. He scanned the area, trying to recollect something about himself. As he looked about, he realized everything was getting darker again. Fading away from him. Becoming blurry. He was forgetting the dream.

Cid inhaled deeply, realizing he had been holding his breath. And with the oxygen, the light quickly refilled the room, the blur leaving.

And like the previous flash of light, memories struck him. Memories of the dream, the voice. But something else had been brought with it. Memories he did not remember. A history that didn't fit, that he didn't know of.

The rain continued to pound around him, like a quick and subdued drumbeat that carried these memories to him.

A past that he never had was opened in his mind. And like a puzzle in a box, the pieces were all scattered. A person's life stood on a rearranged timeline, a kid, then a teen, a toddler, and a kid again. The history failed to make sense. The subject personified within a mystery.

He picked a memory at random. A young child in a futuristic complex from what looked like Cid's time. He was surrounded by unfamiliar people who seemed to be giving him their full attention, scientists studying him for some unknown reason. The boy reached out as if to touch the empty space before at their coaxing. And then a blue orb of light, familiar and foreign at the same time, opened and enveloped him. He was carried to a new time, emerging in a forest with two startled figures standing over him. The blue light vanished.

And then another memory pushed itself forward. The boy was there again, though slightly younger this time. He sat once again in a modern room, playing with his toys below the gaze of two people, different than the couple before. Perhaps these were his parents? Their warm demeanor juxtaposed the cold studying looks of the scientists from before.

Cid quickly reached up and switched off the light, as it was beginning to glare on his eyes and distract him. The dream had been quickly forgotten as these memories continued to flow through his head, pushed to the back of his mind.

"What... what is this?" he finally spoke, pulling himself up to a seated position on the bed.

Now the memory, in the form of a young teen, was swinging a sword at the air. The moves deliberate yet shaky. A figure behind him was soundlessly giving him pointers.

With the memories brought a headache, pounding on his mind as if to reseal what had been set free. He covered his temple with his palms and fell back on the bed, shutting out the visions for the time being. The digital clock on the end table told him it was still far from morning, so he fell back onto his pillow and threw the covers back over him.

He could figure this out in the morning when he could think clearly. As long as he had no more psycho dreams to distract him, that is.

xxxxx

A brief flash erupted, and then the ever-memorable red light threw itself across the surroundings, causing the three to scrunch their eyes for a moment. The gate was open.

"I guess it's not a good time to say this," Crono began, "but I've always hated the red ones."

Marle turned to him questioningly, her head cocked, "Huh, how's that?"

"Actually, scratch that. It doesn't bother me. I just wanted something cool to say before I went through," Crono corrected himself.

Lucca smirked, "To make up for the fact you aren't?"

"Pretty much," he shrugged, neither agreeing or arguing.

The plan was pretty simple, mostly due to the fact they really didn't have much to go on with their current situation. Marle would remain at the Gatekeeper while Crono and Lucca went in to search for Schala. With or without her, they would return within a day. Without her, they would report what they found and then form a new plan based on that.

Also, that would give Lucca the privacy to talk to her childhood friend and maybe pry something out that Marle couldn't. But of course, Crono wasn't told this part.

"So I'll see you later then," Marle spoke, interrupting Lucca's jab, "If you're not here by the night, whose bed should I use?"

"You can use mine, it's a lot better than the one I gave Cid," Lucca responded, then hastened, "But don't tell him that."

"I wouldn't," Marle assured her.

"I would," Crono was tactful in his own interjection.

"Then I'll make you wish you wouldn't," Lucca said, pointing her finger at him to punctuate the threat.

"I mean I wouldn't," Crono corrected himself.

"If it comes to an overnight trip, I'll be sure to try and cook you something for your return then," Marle tried to force the conversation back on topic.

"That sounds fine to me," Lucca nodded before turning serious, "But hopefully it won't be that long. I don't even know how time flows in Limbo now. When we were battling Nikades, he had adjusted it to match our world's time flow. But with him gone, it might have reverted to itself. Which would mean an eternity there is an instant here."

"That wouldn't bode well for Schala if she's really trapped there though," Crono reminded her.

"I know, so hopefully Nikades' tinkering hasn't been reverted to that extent," Lucca sighed, "We'll just have to wait and see."

"Well then, why don't we?" Crono gave a grand gesture towards the gate, "After you."

"No, no, no, no," Lucca mirrored Crono's movements, "After y-"

Crono pushed her in.

"You b-" Lucca disappeared into the gate.

"Crono, that wasn't nice," Marle scowled at him.

"I know, but it was funny," he gave her a kiss on the cheek, "See you soon."

And he jumped in as well. Behind him the red gate closed.

"See you soon," Marle echoed solemnly.

xxxxx

The red light engulfed her and devoured her; it consumed her and sent her reeling through a void, a point between times, between worlds. The light intensified as she plummeted through, then finally subsided when she shot out the other end, within the realm of Limbo, the world between worlds.

Before her, loomed the massive castle, the previous home of Nikades the god and of the spectres. Surrounding the building was the vast nothingness. A foggy light everywhere. The world had a brownish hue, as if it was stagnating like a swamp.

Lucca stepped away from the gate, her mind searching for a means of revenge against Crono, but before she could devise something cruel enough, he was spat out before her. He stumbled briefly, trying to find his footing, then failing completely and sagging to his knees.

"You know, I think I was right the first time," Crono continued his earliest thought as he shook cobwebs from his head, "I simply don't like this. I think I'm a little nauseous."

"Serves you right," Lucca mumbled, flinching slightly as the gate shut behind them.

"Oh come on, you would have thought it was funny too," Crono paused in thought, then added for clarity, "You know, if it had been someone else."

"Maybe," Lucca shrugged and glanced around once more to determine their course of action, "The castle will be the first place we search, I guess. If Schala was sent here, she would take refuge there."

"Or she would wander off into the void," Crono added helpfully.

"Shut up, Crono," Lucca retorted offhand, "We go there first."

"Whatever you say," Crono finished.

Lucca took a step forward, eyeing the structure, "Do you think there's still anything in there; like the spectres? A few stragglers?"

"If there are, at least we're armed for the occasion," Crono indicated his sword.

"I hope that's enough. I gave my blaster to Cid."

Without another word, they stepped forward, and headed towards their first target.

xxxxx

Something thumped nearby.

Cid was brought back to reality, awakened from his sleep by the noise, and he opened his eyes once again. It was morning now, the rain had abated. Coughing slightly, he sat up in bed and tried to remember what had occurred during the night.

The thump repeated itself, it was a knock at the door.

Cid sighed and reached down to the floor for his shirt, "Who is it?"

"Room service," a male voice replied haltingly, "It's time for you to turn in your room."

He grabbed his shirt and glanced at the clock, which stared back at him in a blur. Cid moaned and reached on the dresser for his glasses and put them on, staring at the clock again; it was only 8:30.

"I thought I wouldn't have to until ten," Cid responded, annoyed; he quickly pulled on his shirt and glanced about for his shoes.

"I only do what I'm told, son," the voice replied after a long pause, "If you have a complaint, take it to the front desk."

_Friendly, aren't you?_Cid thought to himself, as he finished tying his shoes; he reached for his backpack on the dresser, but stopped when he noticed the complimentary mint and the dubious card underneath it:

_HOSPITALITY IS NOT A BUILDING FOR THE SICK AND INJURED; IT'S OUR JOB_

"Yeah, right," Cid mumbled to himself in response; he popped the mint in his mouth and grabbed his backpack; he yelled to the man outside, "Okay, give me another moment."

_What kind of hotel kicks their guests out at 8:30? I mean, it isn't even an even hour-_

Cid's thoughts were cut off by the sound of something coming from the bathroom behind him. Not the random noise you sometimes hear from nowhere, the sound made by another person as they try to move about a room. There was someone in there.

_Wasn't there a window in the bathroom?_ Cid thought quickly, _Did someone break into there?_

He quietly put the backpack on the bed, unzipping it and reaching inside. He grasped the blaster, and almost pulled it out. However, he realized that wasn't the best option under the circumstances and released it.

But what else did he have?

Then he heard a small click from the bathroom. And not a standard click, it was the sound of a walkie-talkie coming to life. Cid began to think maybe the blaster might be worth it.

He took several steps toward the bathroom door, reaching for it apprehensively. He took a deep breath and released it, then decided to get on with it.

"Hey, who-" he began to yell.

Behind him, another click sounded. A different click. He quickly spun around to see his door knob turning, as someone had either picked the lock or gotten a key to it.

And then outside, he heard a loud "NOW" being shouted, a shout that was echoed through the Walkie-talkie in the bathroom behind him. It finally dawned on him what was occurring.

"Damn it!" he yelled and ran for the bed, for the backpack, and for the blaster inside.

"He's moving!" came another shout from the bathroom, Cid didn't have to turn and look to know that the person had come out and was right behind him.

The entrance door to his room was thrown open loudly, the bottom of it slamming against the doorstop with enough force to send it bouncing back. But as it bounced back, it struck the shoulder of one of two armed and uniformed men.

They quickly aimed their guns at him, yelling various versions of "FREEZE" as they panned across the room in opposite directions, more following behind them. Cid stopped in his tracks, his hand inches away from the backpack, and his blaster. He stood like this for several seconds, glaring at the men who formed a semi-circle around him. A standoff. Then something heavy hit him from behind.

He was thrown forward roughly onto the bed, and someone grabbed his hands; most likely the man who had snuck into his bathroom. The man who would have prevented his escape route had he known what was going on.

Handcuffs slapped onto his wrists as he tried to turn his face away from the bed that was suffocating him and he glanced at the soldiers around him. It certainly wasn't room service.

The military had found him at last.

Finally, a new person entered the room. He wore a much more sophisticated uniform, indicating to all snipers of the world that he was the commander of this operation. He calmly reached down and clicked off the walkie-talkie he had at his belt and smiled at Cid.

"Good to see you back so soon, Beta," the smile became a smirk, "Though it doesn't say much for your sense of self-preservation. I guess the other half _did_get the better deal after all."

"What are you talking about?" Cid demanded, as he was pulled up off of the bed to face the officer.

"Explaining things aren't my job," the commander replied harshly, "You can ask someone else stupid questions later."

Cid opened his mouth to add a retort but was cut off as he felt someone fumbling around his back pocket, going for his wallet. He turned his attention towards this new antagonist, "Hey, not so rough!"

In response he was relieved of his wallet and thrown face first back onto his bed, someone's weight was applied to keep him down and muffle any further complaints. The person behind him tossed his wallet over to the officer, who put it into his vest.

"Grab his pack, too," the commander said, pointing towards the backpack.

As that was confiscated as well, the officer turned and headed back out the door, issuing one final order, "Put him out, we've a long trip ahead of us."

The weight was removed and Cid began to stand, but then something heavy struck him in the back of his head and he pitched forward, back onto the bed. And once again, he fell asleep.


	6. Chapter 6

CHRONO TRIGGER CULMINATIONS  
by  
Jerm

Chapter 6

* * *

"It won't open," Lucca stated in a huff after pushing, then pulling on the massive double doors that sealed the castle.

"What do you mean?" Crono responded.

Lucca rolled her eyes at his obvious question, "I mean what I said Crono. It won't open; it's locked or something."

"Here, let me do it," Crono stepped past her, angling his arm to softly push her away.

Lucca took an involuntary step back, unaware of how he was going to manage it, "I think it'll take more th-"

A surge of energy noisily erupted from Crono, cutting her off. Lucca shrieked and jumped reflexively from the sudden noise and flash of white light.

In that flash, the energy sailed from Crono and struck between the doors, tearing into the wood frame and forcing them open. They both swung inward in opposing arcs, leaving a trail of scattering splinters and shrapnel in their wake. A hollow impact was the finale as they hit the walls inside and ceased their swing.

The silence following was only momentary. "Damn it, Crono!" Lucca yelled, just now covering her ringing ears, "I think I could have come up with a quieter solution than that!"

Crono smiled and patted her shaking shoulders, "Maybe, but you said I couldn't open it. I just wanted to prove you wrong."

"Since you cheated, nobody proved anybody wrong," Lucca glared at him, "Instead I'll point out that if Schala went in here, why would the doors be shut again?"

"Good point," Crono stated, then drew his sword and began walking in.

Lucca looked after him for a second, then turned to scan the landscape, still as dead as ever. She sighed, "Well, at least we aren't going to draw anybody's attention."

She followed.

xxxxx

Cid found himself standing once more in the forest clearing, alone. The oak tree that had once stood tall the area was now gone, burned down and uprooted most likely. The shack however, remained. It's front door still wide open, the darkness that enveloped the gap beckoning him to approach. Calling him to enter and view the horrors it was hiding inside.

Cid merely shook his head, he wouldn't go near that place. He knew he couldn't even force himself. It frightened him beyond all rational thought. Taking a half-step back, he bumped up against a tree at the edge of the clearing and leaned against it for support, both physically and mentally.

What was supposed to happen in this dream?

This time he knew it was a dream. His awareness was up, his understanding greater this time around. Perhaps he would find a clue to unlock the mystery. Already forgotten were the events that had put him under and into this deep sleep.

And then he heard whispering, human voices speaking all around him to each other. Discussing him or the house or maybe the boy or tree, Cid tried to focus on any one of these voices to discern the topic but failed. The noise was almost a low hum, constant and nerve-wracking. It seemed to be getting closer, circling in on him but never becoming louder.

Cid pressed himself tighter against the tree, trying not to glance at the shack again and increase his fear. If only he had a weapon. His hands fumbled briefly around his beltline only to remind him he indeed did not have one.

And then a hand reached around the tree and grabbed his face, covering his mouth. It brought his head away and then back against the tree hard. But in a dream, he felt no pain. Only the darkness of unconsciousness came.

And he dreamt within a dream.

xxxxx

_Another dream?_

The thought brought him to a realization that he was awake. Cid opened his eyes drowsily, immediately having the feeling that he'd done so several times today already. Then a moment later, he remembered that he had. Then he remembered when he had last been awake.

He shot up from the cot he had been lying in, striking his head on the cot above. He was in the bottom half of a bunk.

"Ow, damn it!" Cid yelled, grabbing at his forehead in pain.

He rolled out of the cot onto the floor, rocking his head back and forth trying to sooth it. After a while, he sat up and glanced about him, noting that the upper cot was vacant. The rest of the cell was pretty much what he thought it would be. Four walls, a heavy steel door complete with a barred window, and sparse decorations that consisted of carvings dug into the walls. However, everything was much too clean. The walls were a pristine white beyond the scratch marks, matching the floor and ceiling. Only the door was different, a steely gray.

He glanced down at himself to find that he was wearing thin, green pants and a shirt. More like a medical patient than a prisoner.

"You awake in there?"

Cid was to his feet instantly as he glanced at the door, through the bars, and into the dim face of what would be his guard. Or possibly captor.

"I don't think I can tell anymore," he replied lamely.

The sound of keys hitting the lock told him the man took his reply as a yes. After several seconds of clinking, the door swung open, surprisingly quiet. A prison didn't keep such good care of their doors.

Cid briefly thought about rushing the guard, then decided not to on account of the guard being armed and him not fully awake. Instead, he smiled beamingly as the other man stepped inside. Three others soon followed, two more guards and someone dressed in more casual clothing. As the small cell suddenly became crowded, Cid decided to sit back down on his cot. He banged the back of his head on the top cot doing so, making a match for the front.

"Are you okay?" the fourth person asked in a caring voice as Cid, eyes winced shut, caressed his head.

"I'm fine, I do this for fun," Cid replied none too polite.

The guards panned about the room, their stances never becoming as leisurely as the other visitor's, they were here to protect him, it seemed.

"Mm," the other said nodding, not catching the sarcasm in Cid's tone, "I suppose it keeps the blood flowing."

"Yeah, all over you pretty white floor," Cid finished.

"Did you cut yourself?" the man asked?

Cid sighed to himself, "I don't see how I could, these beds aren't... What are you doing here, anyway? And who are you?"

The other man smiled briefly, then spoke, "Sorry, we're not allowed to give out our names here. At least those on staff. You can just call me Doctor Y."

"Dr. Y?"

"If you must," Doctor Y replied with a thin smile, "Someone beat me to X, I'm afraid."

The pain in his head began to numb and Cid finally got a decent look at his visitor. Dr. Y was an aging man, his face wrinkled and hair a dark grey. His eyes were sunken back a bit, and they seemed to stare eternally, never blinking. The look clashing with his constant smiles and creating an air of uncomfortableness around the man.

"Must've broke your heart," Cid finally answered, reverting back to his monotone, biting voice.

"If we can carry on here-I'm on a schedule-I'd like to get down to business," the doctor reached into a pocket Cid didn't notice before.

Cid noticed the man's hands were shaking as they moved, marking him as older and more frail than he originally appeared, which was saying a lot. Dr. Y began to mumble quietly to himself as he had trouble dislodging the contents of his pocket, his frustration becoming evident. A short moment later however, he produced a tube filled with a clear liquid. Satisfied, he grasped it with his free hand and begun delving into his pocket all over again. "What's all this?" Cid asked, leaning back in his seat from a sudden bout of anxiety.

"Just a few antibiotics," Doctor Y responded calmly, producing a needle sheathed in a thick plastic sleeve, "You've been out in the open for several months and we don't know about your immunities yet."

"Huh?" Cid was confused now, glancing at the guards around him and hoping for similar reactions; none came, "I don't remember having any problems with my immunities."

"Of course not," the doctor smiled as he hooked the needle into the tube, "We always took good care of you here."

"What? No, wait," Cid shook his head, a dark realization beginning to form in his head, "that doesn't make sense! I don't recall ever being here before!"

"Doesn't make sense? You could die without this," Doctor Y retorted, "It seems about as complicated as two and two making four to me."

Cid slid away as the doctor leaned forward to grasp his arm for the shot. He jumped out of the cot and leaned into the far corner, trying to find a way out of this. The doctor sighed as the nearest guard grabbed Cid by the arms and pinned him down. Cid continued to struggle, "You've got the wrong person!"

Y leaned down over Cid with a weary expression evident on his face.

"Look," his tone was now menacing, no longer soothing, "even if you're not infected with anything, this shot's not going to hurt you. If you insist on resisting, we'll have to put you back to sleep to give the shot. So just make it easy on all of us, okay?"

Cid merely slid to a sitting position in the corner, closing his eyes and trying to shut out the world he didn't recognize. He continued to ignore everything as one of his arms was freed with a soft sting following, the shot administered. And still, he continued to ignore everything as the door opened, then shut several seconds later.

"Good boy," Doctor Y said from beyond the door, "Maybe tomorrow we can catch up on all that you've missed."

Cid continued to ignore him. This was not his world.

xxxxx

"Boring," Marle mumbled to herself as she put down one of Lucca's books, "If someone's going to waste four hundred pages on..." She glanced at the title of the book again, then decided not to bother even trying to vocalize that mess of letters, "Whatever you are... They could at least make it interesting."

She got up out of her chair and walked across Lucca's living room to the bookcase, hoping to maybe strike reader's gold this time around. But each book seemed to be the same format. Whatever a young inventor needed. Not a single fiction or romance in the bunch.

Marle glanced back outside, the sun beginning to approach the horizon to begin the night. The other two probably wouldn't make it back until morning then. She abandoned her quest for literary mush and wandered through the hallway into the kitchen to begin a quest for dinner.

Which was a mild success. She dug a little of this and a little of that out of the pantry and tossed them together on the counter. But as she glanced down to look for silverware, something glanced across her vision, outside through the window in the fading light. Marle looked up in startlement, but saw nothing other than the lawn.

She shrugged it off and returned her attention to more important things. After setting up a decent meal, she carried the tray back to her reading desk she hadn't used much for reading. She swept the few books lying on it off the edge and set down the food, then went back to get the fork and spoon she left behind.

But as she returned, she realized she should have paid more attention to the movement that had distracted her earlier. There stood three men in Lucca's foyer, the one most likely the leader pulling a pear from her dinner tray. He was fairly tall, a little over six feet tall, with brown hair that went down to an inch above his shoulders. His dress was ragged, though it seemed more out of a sense of personal style than circumstance. His eyes glinted with a very dangerous intelligence.

"Thank you so much madam, for the meal," he toasted her with the pear and a friendly smile.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Marle demanded, reminding herself she only had a fork for defense, "This is a private residence."

She stepped forward another pace, putting her next to the twin stairwells, as a possible escape route if needed.

"A private residence which doesn't stop the queen from taking her fill, I've noticed," his reply remained annoyingly casual, "Perhaps she could share her meal with her less fortunate subjects?"

"Who are you?" she asked again, putting down the spoon and tightening her grip on the fork, "Don't condescend to me."

"Condescend?" the man's eyebrow raised, "That's a fancy word for someone who can't manage to say..."

He glanced at the floor to the book Marle had been looking at earlier and studied the title. But the word vexed him just as much, causing his eyes to squint in disbelief that such an order of letters was possible or even legal.

"Well damn, that is a pretty strange word. I take back my remark," his eyes returned to her and hers, "And instead replace it with an answer. I'm here for you."

"Me," it was a statement rather than a question, Marle just knew that had been coming; she took a half step to the stairs.

"Oh, but not you directly, do not be frightened," he took a bite out of the pear and paused briefly in his speech.

As he did so, two other men appeared, one at each top of the staircases, trapping Marle. She knew without looking that there was probably even another in the kitchen. She was absolutely trapped. She dropped the fork, there being no point in fighting this many.

She would just wait. Wait for Crono and Lucca to return. They could in fact return any minute. And if not, if she was led away from the house, she would have to find a way to leave a trail for them to follow. Her mind was in a panic as it tried to formulate a piecemeal plan.

The man swallowed his bite and continued, "I just need to you help me reacquaint myself with an old friend. Though not necessarily old by comparison to myself, of course."

He reached down and pulled another fruit, this time an apple, out of the tray and tossed it to Marle, who just barely managed to catch it, "Have a go at that if you will and you can tell us all about The Marshal."

xxxxx

"Now Cid, you're not being cooperative here," a calm voice berated him, once again.

Cid glared at the figure that spoke, yet another doctor. This one sat near the middle of a semicircle of his protÃ©gÃ©s who faced Cid. Cid himself sat in a wooden chair facing them. They were all in another room, and like all others in this place, it was bare and white. Very white. Cid was beginning to hate white. Two guards stood at the door, attentive.

"I'm being as cooperative as I can, so back off," Cid shot back, "You've apparently got me mixed up with someone else, albeit someone else with a very nice name, but I'm not him. I'm another Cid. I worked the technician division at RoboTech for almost two years. I disappeared for a while and I maybe sort of drove a tank through Project Lavos..." Cid trailed off at the end, realizing he was telling a bit too much. He suddenly had a fear that they had administered a truth agent into his shot. Then again, his optimistic half reminded him, they would be forced to believe him now.

However, they were unimpressed. Doctor Z or D or A, or whoever it was replied, "Through the Project, hm? How did you learn to drive a tank?"

"Okay, ignore that last part," Cid changed gears, trying to cover his mistake, "Just get a line through to RoboTech, ask around. You'll see you've got the wrong guy."

Several doctors conferred amongst each other, then signaled for one of the guards at the door to go make some calls. They turned back to Cid.

"We've never heard of an incident with a tank," Doctor X added, "When was this?"

"Oh, it was yesterday," Cid retorted.

"I see."

"I was being sarcastic, you old goat," Cid got a disgusted look on his face, "I want someone to tell me what's going on now."

A doctor on the left side pulled out a hand recorder, "Subject shows signs of delusion and aggressive behavior."

"I'll show you aggressive behavior!" Cid shouted and jumped up from his seat, towering over his inquisitors.

The remaining guard was fast, however. In a flash he had a stun gun in his hand. Before Cid had time to tell the guard he wasn't attacking, the thing was jammed into his side and voltage shot its way into him. Cid spasmed and his right leg kicked out from under him, causing him to fall over in a jumble of flailing limbs. He curled into a ball.

As he winced in pain, he stared ahead, at the only thing he could see. The boots the guard wore. So shiny.

_They keep everything clean here, don't they?_

He continued to stare as the pain diminished, and then the guard turned and walked away.

"...Right," the doctor replied; Cid could almost tell he was smirking behind his back.

"Does the subject feel he can continue this in a professional manner?" another doctor asked.

"Subject wants to go home," Cid replied in a strained voice, "Also, subject hates white."

"You _are_home, Cid," was the only reply.

And in the back of Cid's head, he began to believe it.

xxxxx

**Welcome.**

The pair glanced up quickly at the voice, Crono readying his sword. There was nothing but darkness glaring against the faint light that came from the small lantern Lucca had taken out when they entered. Nothing living, at least. A lonely throne stood before them, but it certainly couldn't have spoken to them.

"To whom are we speaking?" Lucca called out after completing her search.

No answer came.

"Maybe we were just hearing things," Crono surmised after several quiet moments.

"Both of us?" Lucca queried, "Hardly."

"Maybe hearing voices is contagiou-" Crono began, then his head darted to their left.

Lucca brought her lantern around to follow his movement, but through its light they saw nothing.

"Crono, calm down," Lucca scolded him, "If you get me swinging this thing around too much one of us is going to burst into flames."

"Sorry," Crono responded, turning back away, "I guess your light's throwing our shadows everywhere."

The continued to slowly advance into the depths of the castle, still not too sure what to expect. The dark halls passed them by, solemn and dead. The throne room was just a ways further, and that was more than likely their final destination. Lucca glanced to the side through open doorways and into the rooms and halls beyond, trying to make out anything visible.

But she knew if she tried too hard she would start imagining she saw things, and that could be even worse. They could handle a stray spectre or two. But if their own minds were turning against them, who knows?

Finally they reached the throne doors, unmolested though still wary. That was the way to go, but neither of them wanted to open it, to see what was beyond. Finally, Lucca spoke.

"After you!" she said with a copy of Crono's inviting wave.

"Don't even try it," Crono shook his head, then decided to open the door anyway.

It swung open to reveal another dead, dark room. But it was their destination they stepped inside. It was then that Lucca's lantern flickered briefly and they knew they weren't alone. Crono's sword came around as he circled about to find the source of the disturbance, but finding nothing.

The door shut behind them.

xxxxx

"...And upon excavating the crater, we found what appeared to be a hole in the very fabric of space. We set up camp about it to examine the phenomenon, which eventually grew into a military base."

"And thus came Project Lavos." Cid finished.

They were back in Cid's cell now. Just Cid, Dr. Y, and the two ever-present guards. Cid sat on his bottom bunk, being careful not to knock his head again, the other three stood.

"Yes, so you know that much," Dr. Y continued, "After a while, we found that it wasn't a tear in space, but in time... And then later, we opened it."

"You what?" Cid's voice raised a bit more than he had intended.

"At first, we wanted to send a party through, to explore another time and collect data. But others thought it was too dangerous, it would possibly create a time loop. And they were probably right. Instead, we decided to simply bring something back from that other time."

The doctor paused for a few moments, possibly to think of how to word the next sentence. Cid waited patiently, although his anxiety grew the longer he did so. Finally, Y continued.

"We didn't have time to do anything, though. Before we could send a party in to begin collecting, a human erupted from the gate. He was in a state of panic and was mumbling to himself. Then he passed out."

Cid thought for a moment they were speaking of Marshall, remembering the first time the bounty hunter had come through the gate. But he dismissed the idea, that hadn't happened at Project Lavos.

"Well... we took the person to the infirmary for safekeeping for the while, then found a problem. The rift had closed itself completely," Dr. Y rubbed his temple as he continued his explanation, "So we went back to the infirmary and decided to study... the person instead. After all, there was no going back.

"Then after a year, the person disappeared. A year later, he was arrested in a hotel not far from here."

Cid tried to stand up as he realized who they were talking about and bumped his head a third time. He covered where it hurt with one hand while he pulled himself up with the other, "Damn it! Why are there bunk beds in here when I'm the only person anyway?!"

"I see you're beginning to understand. And hopefully, to remember," the doctor took a step back from Cid, so casual it was almost unnoticeable.

"No!" Cid stared at the doctor, "I don't remember any of that at all! And I sure as hell don't understand it since it clashes with what I _do_remember happening for the last five years. You really do have the wrong person."

"That's where you're wrong. DNA and fingerprint scans already confirm it was you. We checked your alibi, as well. RoboTech never had someone named Cid working for them. You never drove a tank through the project. What you think you've been through is more than likely all an illusion, caused by being out in a futuristic society for the first time and not being able to handle it."

"I had a wallet, with cards and identification-"

"That belonged to a doctor you took them from when you fled. How do you think we were able to track you down to that hotel?"

"This is all a cover-up right? I've been through Project Lavos and now they're trying to erase my identity and exterminate me," Cid took a step forward.

Instantly, the two guards took a step forward as well, barring the distance between the doctor and Cid. They glared at him as he glared back.

"No, it is not. You're just confused," Dr. Y reasoned, "Calm down, sleep a little on it, and we'll talk some more in the morning."

The doctor made a hasty exit as Cid still refused to cooperate. One of the guards quickly injected Cid with another sleeping agent and they threw him to the ground before following the doctor.

Cid stood up immediately and raced for the closing door, but was too late. He slammed himself against it mercilessly and yelled at their departing forms, "You can't erase me! I know who I am! People know who I am!"

He fell back away from the door as his vision blurred and his limbs began to grow numb.

"I'm somebody," he mumbled to himself as he turned away from the departing figures.

There was no point yelling anymore, he had to get somewhere safe before he passed out. Cid stumbled towards the bed, then fell into it as the drugs took full hold of him and sleep erased him.


	7. Chapter 7

CHRONO TRIGGER CULMINATIONS  
by  
Jerm

Chapter 7

* * *

In the darkness that seemed to press even tighter against the lantern's light, Crono and Lucca stood their ground. They knew now beyond the shadow of a doubt they weren't alone. But whatever was out there was just as apprehensive about a conflict as they were, judging by its reliance on cheap scare tactics. Beyond that, it was a stalemate. For several quiet moments, everything was still. Finally, Lucca broke the silence.

"Show yourself!" she demanded, spinning her light around in a circle.

"That's telling 'em," Crono remarked, "But I'd rather they stay away and out of sight until we're gone ourselves."

"No, whatever it is, I don't think it can hurt us," Lucca responded, "It's doing nothing but tricks, like Nikades did back then."

Crono tensed in his stance at the sound of that name, his sword's handle starting to dig a mark into his hand, "You think it's him? Nikades again?"

"No, he's dead. Worse than dead, remember?" Lucca stepped past Crono and slowly advanced into the room towards the throne, "I think it might be the remains of the spectres."

Crono knew she was probably wrong, but couldn't think up another option at the time. They'd just have to find out if it came to that then. He instead followed her, not wanting to leave his friend defenseless. Though she could probably really put a beating on something with that lantern, he'd rather she didn't need to resort to that.

As they reached the far end of the room, the lantern illuminated something tall and gray and lifeless that towered over them from the center of the room. It was the crystal container that they had seen contain Nikades during his transformation, now dull and seemingly drained of color.

"Now _this_looks familiar," Crono remarked, hesitant to approach it, "Are you sure it isn't Nikades?"

"More than sure now," Lucca answered, "Nikades shattered his prison, remember?"

"Oh yeah... So what's this one doing here?"

Lucca held the light before her and squinted her eyes at the smooth surface of the object, as if trying to look inside, "I'm not sure. It doesn't look like it's being used. If it even has been used."

Crono tapped his sword against it, even the sound of contact seemed lifeless, "Maybe it has something to do with Magus? And that would explain why Schala went here."

"Well, if we had an answer to it; yeah, it would probably explain something," Lucca shook her head, "But we have no answer and no explanation. And Schala's not here, that's becoming clear to me now."

"If she didn't find Magus here, where would she have gone next?" Crono mused, "If you were Schala, where would you go if you were here and found nothing?"

"Maybe she did find something," Lucca backed away from the crystal, chilled by the implication in her words, "Or it found her."

Her subtle reminder that they weren't alone was enough for Crono's nerves. He put his hand on her shoulder to indication he was ready to leave, "That's all I care to hear for now. I think it's time to retreat and dissect this information somewhere safe and less damaging to my nerves."

"Yeah, you're right," Lucca took the hint and followed him back towards the exit, "But the door shut on us, how do we get through?"

"Didn't I just show you how a half hour ago?" Crono gave an exaggerated gesture with his free hand.

"Don't, Crono. We'll just think of another way. I don't want to draw anything's attention here."

Crono's didn't bother to respond, he agreed with her on that. Of course, he would never admit it. Their friendship wouldn't seem the same without the arguing.

They made tracks the rest of the way down the long room and reached the door still with no sign of their host. So far, so good. From there, it was a simple matter of Lucca reaching out and pulling on it.

It opened.

"See, no-" she began as the door accommodated her attempt, but found she couldn't bring herself to finish as she saw what lay on the other side.

Not so much on the other side, but encompassing the entire doorframe emitted a red light much brighter than Lucca's lantern. Within it swirled infinitely of what seemed like tinted water, calm and eternal. It was a gate.

"What the hell?" Lucca's first thought wasn't quite as insightful as her second: "_How_the hell?"

"Okay, now I'm creeped out to the point I'll openly admit it," Crono added, "Can I start destroying things now? Perhaps a nearby wall to get around this thing?"

"I'm thinking yes," Lucca nodded emphatically, "And I'm thinking right now."

Underneath their conversation, a noise began slowly.

"What's that?" Crono asked as his ear picked up the sound; he turned around to peer into the darkness behind them.

Lucca waved her lantern towards the blackness, then mentally berated herself as she realized its light was nowhere near as strong as the gate's already was anyway. Even so, they could only clearly see about twenty feet beyond. Whatever was making the noise was much further off.

But it was definitely getting closer. As it got louder, they were able to recognize it. It was the clatter of many little feet running quickly across a stone surface. It was something. Many somethings. An inhuman screech pierced their ears and they knew they had been spotted.

"We're in no position to fight here," Lucca told Crono, increasing her volume as the skittering noise threatened to drown it out, "Take out that wall now!"

"I don't have time," he yelled back, "They'll catch up to us regardless. But maybe it's just an illusion like what Nikades did to us."

"Do you want to take that chance?"

He glanced back into the darkness, and thought he could begin to see some movement in there. Something big. Crono shook his head, "Not today."

"We're going to have to take the gate," Lucca conceded, "It's a damn trap, I know it."

"No choice," Crono stepped towards it, "I go first this time, I'm armed."

Lucca didn't argue and he quickly jumped in, disappearing into the wall of light. Fighting the urge to turn and get a quick look at their enemy or enemies, Lucca followed suit.

But the gate didn't close just yet.

xxxxx

"So basically I'm not worth a whit to anybody, right?"

Cid was reclined back on an examining chair, eyes closed and merely listening to Doctor Y explain his situation yet again.

"Yes, yes you are," the doctor replied hastily, "Don't ever think you aren't. You're the most important person to us right now."

"I meant a real person. Not some scientist who just wants to use me to further his theories. Was there anybody here who cared about me in my make believe history?"

"Well," the doctor stalled noticeably, unable to come up with a quick response, "at the time we were allowed to let you out. We had to make sure of a few things."

"So yeah, the answer is no. That's all you had to say, you know," Cid made a gesture with his hand, "Well, at least _that_hasn't changed."

The doctor seemed to sigh to himself, though Cid couldn't tell if it was out of guilt or annoyance. He opened his eyes as he heard papers being rustled beside him. Looking over, he saw the doctor preparing to leave.

"I'll be back in a few minutes, first I have to drop these off. If I'm not back by then, you'll probably get an escort. In which case, don't worry. They know what they're doing and you won't be in any danger."

Cid sat up at that remark and held out his hand, "Way, way, way, wait! Danger? What's all this?"

"I said _no_danger. Just don't worry," the doctor repeated, "They'll explain it all when they arrive; but I'll try to get here before them so I can explain it myself. Really, I'll be right back."

And then the door shut behind him, leaving Cid alone. He could get up and run now, he knew. He'd even make it past the door before the guards reached out and apprehended him. So much for that plan. He laid his head back down and let his thoughts wander.

While he was out, he had had another of those dreams. It still didn't make any sense and that damn shack was still sitting there like a gateway to hell. But the memories that had come at around the same time as the dreams, they seemed to be following the same theme. He was beginning to believe the boy in the nightmares and the boy in these strange memories were the same.

But was he that boy? He was positive the answer was no. He had his memories of growing up and working at RoboTech until he had met some new friends and his life went off course. All this new information Dr. Y had been giving him seemed to follow the thread of the dreams though, perhaps the boy was the person they had him mistaken for.

That would explain a few things, other than the mix-up and how it could have occurred. How did he fit into any of this? And most of all, _Why_him?

Cid snorted at his bad luck. Excluding escape, which seemed impossible at this point, the only safe way out of this was to convince them they had the wrong guy, but days of that had failed so far. If this kept up, he would never reach Death Peak.

That brought his thoughts around to a new direction, and he reminded himself of his quest before all this began. Should he even carry on with it now or just head back and try again some other day.

He already knew the answer to that, he would head back to his friends. The solitude was already getting to him. The only thing now was to find a way out. If only Marshall were here, he was the escape artist of their little group.

Cid smiled at this, at least he wasn't fixated on the tragedy of everything anymore.

"Are we set to go?"

Cid snapped out of his thoughts instantly and looked back at the door, where Dr. Y stood with a pair of guards behind him. The doctor was empty-handed, having dropped off the papers as he said he would, but the guards were definitely wearing their trademark stun guns. Cid marked off that method of escape quickly.

Instead, he played along for the time being, "As ready as a man strapped to a chair and filled with enough drugs to sedate ten men can be."

xxxxx

Crono scanned the foreign horizon warily as Lucca popped out behind him. They were now on some sort of pathway, though overgrown a bit with grass. A forest sprawled out along one side of the road, filled with trees that looked familiar but different in some way. And behind him on the other side of the road was an open field with grass half as tall as they were. But best of all, they were alone.

Plus there was light here.

"Hm, yellow sun," Lucca commented on the source of that light, looking up as she used her free hand to shield her eyes, "That certainly eases my mind a bit."

Crono followed her gaze to confirm that it was indeed a color he trusted suns to generally be, "Around noontime, too."

"Depending on how long days last in this world, I guess," Lucca added, "At least it's a livable environment."

Crono took a breath and nodded his agreement, then glanced back at the gate, which still hadn't shut. "I wonder why-"

What he could only define as a blur emerged from the gate like a cannonball and slammed into Lucca, throwing her to the ground. It reared up, as stunned as the other two for the moment, giving him an opportunity for a decent look at it, but he didn't bother. First priority was getting it off of his friend.

Crono swung his sword, only to have it glance off the beast with a ring. Some sort of exoskeleton, he realized. It mostly ignored his blow, drawing its focus on Lucca who futilely tried to push it off. Cocking its head, it raised its arms up to reveal two cruel looking scythe-like hands adorned with tiny barbs along the bottom.

_It's a giant preying mantis_, Crono realized as he swung again, this time aiming for a joint. But once again his sword couldn't find a crevice to bite into. The monster however was distracted this time as it realized it was in possible danger, and faltered in its fatal blow to Lucca.

She took the opportunity to reach over and grab the handle of her lantern, which she had dropped on impact. It was still lit, the fire burning within, though dimming now. But good enough for the situation.

She swung it around and it smashed into the mantis' head with the noise of metal on bone, the glass breaking. The little bit of oil remaining splattered over the monster's face and quickly lit as the fire spread everywhere possible. The same screech it had made while chasing them through the throne room erupted from its maw as the monster panicked.

Its arms began flaying madly, its head whipping back and forth as it tried to get rid of the burning sensation that was slowly trailing down its body as the oil flowed. Several times it almost inadvertently slashed Lucca, who pressed herself against the ground in defense.

Crono however, had seen enough. Coming off of a quick first step, he threw his entire weight into a dive and body tackled the beast, throwing it off his friend and to the ground. Locked in a struggle, the two rolled around and across the path, each vying to gain advantage of the other. The flames flickered but refused to die in the tumble. Finally Crono came out on top, straddling the insect's abdomen and raising his sword for the deathblow. This time he knew where to go with it. The beast shrieked at him defiantly, the noise harsh and earsplitting. Crono grunted and drove the blade into its open mouth and into its brain.

The mantis convulsed under his weight, almost throwing him off. He grabbed onto his sword tightly, using it for balance as he waited out the violent movements. Finally, they subsided and he slumped over with a sigh.

Only to suddenly have Lucca slapping his back and shoulder. Hard and repeatedly.

"Ow! What are you doing?" he demanded, flinching away from her blows.

"You're on fire, Crono! Get off that thing and roll around quickly!" Lucca slapped his back again.

He didn't need to be told twice. Crono released his sword and took to the dirt, applying himself to it like a pig until Lucca finally gave him the all clear. He rolled over onto his back and closed his eyes.

"Are any more of those things coming?" he asked.

"No, the gate closed," Lucca replied, giving a glance at where the red light had once been, "We're safe for now."

He reached up and rubbed his forehead, feeling dirt and possibly blood there, "Good. I'm way out of practice for this sort of thing."

"Well you're the one who was trying to be so prepared," Lucca reminded him, "See what good it did you?"

"Please Lucca, don't. Just let me lie here and hopefully not die," which reminded him, "Am I bleeding?"

"Is your blood green?"

"I hope not," he shook his head.

He wiped his hand over his forehead again, checking and seeing he indeed had the insect's blood on him. He rubbed his hand in a nearby patch of grass to clean it off, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, some of that oil burned me too, but not too bad... That thing knocked the wind out of me, but you were able to get it off before it could cut me," Lucca appeared over him, looking down at his face, "Thanks."

"Hey, what are friends for?"

Lucca laughed, more to alleviate the stress than actually finding that old joke funny. She reached down and offered her hand, which he took, and she hauled him up, "Friends are for company in strange new worlds, for one."

The remark reminded him of their situation and he didn't return her laugh, "How do we get back now?"

She shrugged, "I don't know. But we're standing in a road, so civilization should be around here. Hopefully we can start an idea from there."

"If it's a friendly civilization," Crono reminded her, "Which way do we-"

He stopped as she took a rag out of pocket and began wiping at his head, getting what he had missed. He rolled his eyes at her fussiness but relented. Until he saw the underside of her arm, which had a long red streak down it. He reached up and took her by the wrist.

"Save that for yourself, that's a nasty cut you've got on your arm."

"Yeah, I know," she shrugged, "It stings like a bastard. But it's not impairing my vision."

"Neither is whatever's on my head," Crono added a bit more harshly than he would have wanted to.

"Fine, be that way," she stuffed the cloth back into her pocket and looked down the road, "We'll go that way."

She started off without him.

"Sorry," he called to her as he reached down and grabbed his sword.

It released itself from the mantis' head with a slurp, causing the thing to convulse reflexively. Crono jumped at the moment and stabbed the monster again, just to make sure. In response, it lay still and silent. Satisfied, he sheathed his sword and ran to catch up to Lucca.

xxxxx

"What was the purpose of that?"

Janus pressed his hands and face against his glass prison in an attempt to peer out into the darkness, to hopefully receive a glimpse of who or what he was speaking to, though he knew he wouldn't. Murasame had remained beyond his vision since the beginning. And he knew he and Schala beside him were also both invisible to others.

He had just seen the entrapment and escape of Crono and Lucca, and the beast following them into the gate. He knew on the other side they were going to have their hands full fighting it off. Both he and Schala had tried to warn them, using every means possible, but the pair couldn't see or hear them. Murasame's influence was too strong.

There was no response to his demand either. Murasame was there, he knew, but it chose not to speak for the time being. It refused to give away any information and showed no signs of altering that.

Frustrated, he beat his hand on the glass and turned to his sister. Schala gave him a sympathetic look but also didn't speak. Maybe there wasn't any point in doing so, anyway. The thing that had them trapped had a purpose, a plan, and they would have to play along for now. Perhaps in the end they would find it was right in its decisions and help it along. That was surely what it wanted anyway or it would have done away with them by now.

But the options were too far into the future, there was no point in trying yet. Janus signed and lowered his arms. There was nothing to do now but rest. He would have to be ready for when he was needed.

Something big was going to happen soon and he couldn't be caught unprepared for it.

xxxxx

"So what are you a doctor of?"

Cid tried once again to start up conversation with Dr. Y, who was surprisingly solemn during their trek to wherever they were heading. And once again, he was shot down by a quick uninformative response, "People."

"Okay," Cid drew out the last syllable to give the impression he wanted more, but was met with silence.

They took a right and were met by an elevator. One guard stepped up and pressed the down button, then waited for the doors to open and allow them in. Cid glanced around to view their surroundings, mapping out a possible escape route just to pass the time.

"This place looks familiar though," he remarked.

"It should," Y responded.

"Why?"

The doors opened and they stepped in. The same guard reached forward once again and hit a button on the panel, causing the doors to shut. Cid tried to look past him to see the panel and what button he pushed, but couldn't manage without pushing the guy out of the way. And he didn't want that. Instead, he pressed his question again.

"No really, why?"

"You've been here before, of course," the doctor turned his head around to look him in the face, "This is where, to us, you were born."

The pieces began to assemble in his head and his response leapt from his mouth as it appeared in his head, "Project Lavos."

"Yes. Our leading research point for time travel," Dr. Y was opening up a bit as the topic steered towards something he enjoyed talking about, "But to your imagination, apparently a racecourse for a tank."

"Will I be able to try that again?"

"No," this time it was one of the guards who responded, his voice gruff and unfriendly.

"Fine," Cid shrugged, "I wasn't that good at it anyway."

The doctor shook his head at this, probably wondering what delusions this young man was living under, Cid thought. They still thought he was this time traveler guy. Though technically he was. Just not the one they wanted.

"What do you need me here for then?"

"You've asked that three times now," the doctor reminded him, "I'm not at liberty to answer. Just wait until we get there, please."

"Will Dr. X be there?"

The elevator came to a stop and Dr. Y turned to him his face even more serious than before, "You'd better hope not." And then the doors opened, offering them entrance into Project Lavos.


	8. Chapter 8

CHRONO TRIGGER CULMINATIONS  
by  
Jerm

Chapter 8

* * *

"Those are definitely buildings down there," Lucca declared behind a pair of binoculars, "But I can't see any people from this far out. Either it's empty or it's just not a very busy village, I'm thinking."

"Let me see," Crono demanded, extending his hand to take her eyewear.

The two of them were perched under a tree near the top of a large hill a ways off the road they had been wandering down. It was tall enough to give them good visibility, though for the detail they needed, the binoculars had to be used. They had only been wandering for a couple of hours since getting stranded in this world, but there was very much a need to rush. Mainly the handicap of not bringing any food with them when they first ventured into Limbo; that was something that'd catch up to them eventually.

The village itself was fairly small, maybe a dozen huts clustered unevenly across the base of a mountain. the big brother to the hill they were currently on. Oddly enough though, there didn't seem to be any nearby water sources. That was usually the initial building block of any village. Lucca hoped they had a well or maybe even some sort of irrigation system that fed from the nearby mountain instead. Then all they'd have to worry about was the food.

Lucca held onto her toy for a moment longer then finally relented and handed them to him. As he gave a look himself, she rubbed her chin thoughtfully and leaned back against the trunk of the tree. There was no telling if the natives in this world were friendly or not, so visiting the village below could be extremely dangerous as opposed to extremely rewarding. As opposed to slightly rewarding.

But still, even if they didn't find a way or information pertaining to a way back, they needed that food and water. The various plants dotting the landscape might be edible, but she wasn't willing to risk that until it was absolutely necessary.

"See anything I missed?" Lucca asked.

"No," Crono said, then added in frustration, "I can't even find the buildings with this silly thing."

"You're moving it too quickly," she chastised him, "You'll just blur right over what you're looking for, keep your hands steady."

"No, I'll just take your word for it," he dropped his hands down and offered Lucca her binoculars back.

She accepted and placed them back into her pouch, as Crono got up from his half-sitting position he had been in and stretched. Then he began to trudge back down the hill, "Let's get a closer look."

Lucca got up and followed him, wiping pieces of bark from her pants. She still didn't like that idea much, "We're not even sure if that's safe yet."

"Well, looking from this hill didn't tell us anything, so we don't have much choice."

Crono hopped off of a jutting rock to travel the remaining three feet down to the trail, leaving Lucca to merely walk around it. Despite bandaging it up, her arm was still feeling pain spikes from the scratch she had received struggling with the mantis, and acrobatics wouldn't help.

When Lucca caught up with him, she thought about continuing her case, then realized she really didn't have one. Crono was right. If she were to speak, it would be to agree with him. With that in mind, the inventor remained silent for the time being. The two set off down the road once more, towards the village.

Once her feet had gotten back into that monotonous left-right-left pattern, Lucca's mind began to wander again, much against her better sense. She had originally intended to use this trip as a means to ask Crono about his strange behavior. While he wouldn't tell Marle, she as his best friend could still possibly pry it out and help him deal with it. But she had had trouble working herself up to it, finding a way to ask without being obvious. And then the thing back at the castle had happened. Now was the time to bring it up, she had been trying during their whole trip through this strange world. But she still felt that irrational trepidation creep up on her.

"Crono?" she heard herself say under force, then having his attention, her mind went blank.

_Why have you been behaving so strange, lately?_

_What's been the matter with you, lately?_

_How've you been lately?_

_Why are you acting so messed up, lately? You're going to make Marle cry._

"Yes?" he asked when she didn't follow up, a moment later he turned to look at her as well.

No pressure.

"Sorry, I'm having trouble wording this," she apologized, then decided to go with her third option, "How've you been lately?"

Crono continued to look at her a moment longer, then his eyes seemed to lose focus as he internalized her question. Thinking of how to answer it.

"What do you mean?" he finally asked, "I mean I know how I've been, but I think your question's a bit more specific than that, right?"

"Yeah," she gave in, shaking her head, "You saw right through it. And I've been spending the whole day trying to word it out before speaking."

She sighed before continuing, "I mean I hear you've been running off from the castle for days at a time, not telling anybody when you leave or anything. You've become a man on a mission, but without a real mission. And it's starting to worry Marle. A lot."

"Did she have you do this?" it wasn't really an accusation.

"No, it was my idea. But she has been telling me about your forays into the wild unknown and I thought I should try to talk some sense into you."

Crono gave a short laugh and repeated, "Forays..."

"Well, that's pretty much what they are, right?"

"I suppose," he made a face, "But I told her why I was doing that. She shouldn't be worried."

"Well she is and so was I. So am I, maybe," she backtracked a bit on that last statement, "It depends on how you answer me."

"I already did answer you," Crono responded without answering.

"Then repeat it and tell me how you're doing," Lucca stopped in her tracks and folded her arms, waiting for her friend to come out with it.

"I'm doing fine. The only problem is the people worrying about me for no reason," Crono pursed his lips and furrowed his brow, "I've been a bit more active than usual, I guess."

"Okay, let's start there then," Lucca replied, ignoring everything but his last statement, "You've been more active lately. You've chosen yourself to be the unofficial protector of everything around you from what I've heard, but you're not going about it the right way."

"Could we continue this on the move, at least," Crono was getting noticeably agitated at the pressure she was putting on him.

Lucca didn't argue though, she dropped her arms and started forward again, Crono stepping in line next to her. "The right way would be to not be so... so..." having navigated that tongue twister of a sentence, she suddenly couldn't think of the right word to cap it off.

"So brash?" he finished.

"So reclusive and untrusting, to name a couple more," she finally threw out, "Have others help you. That's the way I remember you used to be."

He shook his head, "They've got so much to do already."

"Then stop what _you're_doing and help them instead," Lucca said, gesticulating at him for emphasis.

He didn't argue this, perhaps she had finally won a point over him. Or perhaps he'd heard it all before from Marle. Maybe she had to use another tactic to get to him.

But he beat her to the next word, "But it looks like I was right, though. That gate that sent us here that magically appeared is proof enough."

"That doesn't mean anything," she argued, not wanting the conversation to head down this way, "We still don't know how or why it happened."

"But that monster," Crono pointed out, then shot down his own argument, "Well, I guess it doesn't have a how or why yet either. But all the same, the two together point towards some sort of trap trying to herd us into this world. And it worked."

"But we haven't seen anything in this world that has poised a threat to us. No ambush waiting at the other side, ignoring that bug chasing us all the way through."

"Yeah, ignore it," Crono agreed with a bit of humor to tell her there was no sarcasm involved, "No how or why to anything we've seen so far."

"We still don't even know what became of Schala. Maybe she made the gate to save us from something even bigger than that mantis."

"I guess it's possible, but I didn't think she was that powerful."

Lucca shrugged, "We never had time to find that out, though."

Crono began to say something else, but his stomach rumbled, breaking his sentence before it began. Instead, he changed the topic, "I'm hungry."

"I can tell," Lucca rolled her eyes, "I wonder if we could have cooked that bug into a burger or something."

Crono made a face at this, and said, "I'd rather take something from that village up ahead."

Sure enough, they were almost there. The buildings were beginning to take shape before them. Thatched roofs over what appeared to be wooden walls. The forest broke off several yards away from the perimeter of the town, but there was no signs of farming or even stumps from the trees that would have been used for fire or construction. And there were still no denizens in sight, no sign if they would be friend or foe.

"I just hope whatever it is, it's digestible for us," Lucca added, "Food without nutrients won't do us much good."

xxxxx

Project Lavos was exactly as Cid remembered it, barring the changes of time, which was a welcome relief to him strangely enough. He was almost sure the world had gone topsy-turvy around him, this at least was something to anchor himself to. A piece of his memory that hadn't betrayed him. Yet.

Beside him, Doctor Y hummed an acknowledgement to himself quietly. The smugness emanating from his face irritated Cid, the silly twit had seen the recognition as they entered the room. But he didn't think Cid recognized it for his trip through with his friends. He took the expression to further his own theory on the boy, that Cid was a product of this facility.

"You don't have to be so obvious," Cid snapped.

"I beg your pardon?" there was something mocking in that question.

"You're just shoving it in my face. 'Oh! The boy's home and he knows it!' All of that. Just keep it to yourself, please."

The doctor smirked, the preening attitude not leaving one bit. He had begun a steady transformation since they had arrived at this place. What Cid had once thought of as a kindly though untrustworthy old man was suddenly sending a feeling of unease to spear down the boy's spine.

_Was that all an act to try and trick information out of me?_

They reached a door behind two guards. The man on the left nodded and turned, punching the password into the keypad. The door slid open before them with the sound of hydraulics, opening up to another long hallway. But only Cid and the doctor stepped through, the guards that had accompanied them hanging back for a reason he didn't know. He turned back to look at them, but they had already begun to chat away with the two men who had been guarding the door, unaware and uncaring about the two they had been escorting. The door slid shut separating the two groups.

"Are they too scared to go any further?" Cid asked, hoping for a real answer despite the mockery.

"That's not the reason they're staying behind," Doctor Y replied, then gave Cid a serious look and added, "But I can tell you they probably are scared regardless."

There was just too much sudden honesty in the man's voice for Cid to make a snappy remark. Beyond the door before them, yards away but getting closer, was something he suddenly dreaded to see. The Project Lavos he thought he remembered suddenly became a little more foreign to him. The doctor wasn't being smug to trump Cid, he realized. He was doing it to cover up his own fear.

The shiver down his spine received a shiver of its own.

Cid stopped in his tracks, forcing Dr. Y to follow suit. The boy shook his head, "I'm not going any further."

"But you must," Dr. Y said, "It's the only way you can remember. It'll erase your false memories."

"_What_will?" Cid took a step back instead.

The doctor matched his step, "You know what."

He didn't. There wasn't a way to make these people believe he didn't know anything. That he wasn't whom they wanted. He was trapped in a place he didn't belong, that was all he knew now. The door at the end of the hall behind him was the only way out and it was futile. The walls and floor were so white they seemed like nothingness stretching into infinite, but he knew they were so much closer.

Was there any point in doing this?

He had already made that decision before he knew what it was he was going to do. Cid turned and broke into a run towards his one exit. His one chance. Though it was so small a calculator couldn't measure it, it was all he had and he had to try. Cid braced his shoulder and slammed into the door, but it didn't budge.

He hadn't expected it to. He bounced off of it and reached out to the panel, trying to pry from his memory what the guard had pushed to open it on the other side. He heard footsteps behind him, the doctor following. But they weren't running like he was, they were steady and even. No hurry.

_2?_

It was five digits that had been punched in, he remembered. The first had been two, and the fourth had been seven. But what were the other three? No, the third had been seven and the fourth was nine.

_I think._

He typed in at random, 21791. No. 21792. Nothing. The second number had been in the middle row, hadn't it?

_Stupid smug doctor distracting me._

The footsteps were getting closer but he didn't bother to turn. He had time for a few more tries. No point in turning. A waste of time. It was a waste of time to even think about not turning.

24791. 24792. 24793.

"There are four guards on the other side of that door, and they're armed Cid."

"Shut up, you're making me lose track," Cid responded harshly, "I'm sure I'm too important to shoot anyway."

"True."

24794. 24795.

"But I should mention they're armed with tranquilizers. We don't need to have you fully aware of your senses, I should tell you, for the process to take effect."

24796. Still nothing.

Cid felt a hand on his shoulder, gentle but it felt like a lead weight. He knew his chance was over. His hands fell away from the keypad and dropped to his sides and he gave up trying. The hand patted him once and then fell away.

"It's not so bad, you'll see," the voice reassured him, "The aftermath, I mean. The experience itself won't be pleasant, to be honest. But that's the shortest of the two parts."

"I could knock you out cold right here, right now," Cid said with a deadpan tone, knowing already he wouldn't.

"No, you couldn't," it was a fact.

Cid turned and looked the mysterious old man in the eye, "Why do you do this to me?"

"The answer to that and everything is on the other side of the door, Cid."

"What if I'm right and I'm not the person you're looking for?"

"Then we were wrong, but in the end it won't matter. Your memory, false or not, will be gone. And you will still serve the purpose we need you for."

"You are a horrible human being."

"They would say the same of the world's creator... if it _were_a human being."

Cid stopped there, he realized there was no reasoning with the man now. While not mad, the doctor was beyond sympathy for him. Cid was just part of an experiment, an important tool to be used for the betterment of whatever. There was no hope.

In despair he trudged forward once more towards that door at the far end of the hall. Hoping the hallway would extend for the forever it appeared to last. But he knew it wouldn't. He had to face this foe and hope it wasn't as bad as he feared.

"That's the spirit," the doctor spoke up, as if reading his mind.

Cid ignored him.

_How would Marshall have escaped?_

The thought jumped into his head so suddenly, it took him a moment to realize it hadn't been spoken to him by someone else. He quickly grasped onto the idea and contemplated it.

_Well, Marshall probably wouldn't have gotten captured like this in the first place._

No, he wouldn't have. Also, if Marshall would've done something, he'd have done it before ending up in the innermost hallway of what was probably the most heavily guarded area in the world. So the question was null, it was already too late this time.

But maybe the next time through. If he survived this one.

And for the first time in days, he thought back to his original mission: to find Marshall's sword. Was it worth it now?

Obviously not, but Cid knew if he escaped, he would ultimately carry on with that mission. He owed Marshall that much and probably more. Plus, all things considered, it would be much easier from this point on. Death Peak would be a waltz through the park.

Cid ceased his thought process as they reached the last door and Dr. Y began inputting the password. A buzzer responded to his keypunching, however.

"Not cleared to go this far, Doc?" Cid's hopes lifted.

"No, they just change it daily. I'm a little behind is all," Dr. Y smiled, "You won't get out that easily."

He hit another sequence of keys and this time the pad made an acknowledging sound and forced the door open. It slid aside effortlessly and soundlessly. In its wake, Cid peered into the next room, trying to make out what all the hype was about. What he would be facing. But the room was dark and his eyes were struggling to adjust. He couldn't make out anything yet.

"Step inside, please," Dr. Y pushed at Cid's back, trying to hurry him up.

Cid advanced grudgingly, as he still tried to squint his eyes to make out the details. Already though, he could see the room was empty of people.

"Where is everybody?"

"You're it, Cid. Stay right there, you'll see," the doctor responded, though his voice was from further back than Cid expected.

The boy whirled around to see Dr. Y standing on the far side of the door, still in the hall. His hand was on the keypad about to shut the door. Cid immediately raced towards him, stumbling midstride as his ankle rebelled against him. His legs were already wearing out. He righted himself, but didn't bother completing the distance. The door shut long before he would have reached it. Dr. Y had already turned and was walking away, without a backward glance, as the door sealed and separated the two.

Cid pressed his face up against the glass window of the door and yelled at the departing man, "I'll see what?!"

But Dr. Y continued to ignore him. Sighing, he slowly turned back around and examined his surroundings once more, as his eyes continued to adjust. He could now make out that something else was in the room with him, a large shape hulking on the far end over him, taking up most of the wall.

With a click, the lights turned on overhead, illuminating the room with a pale yellow glow and giving Cid a better look at his room.

The cell, unlike the rest of everywhere he had been in during his imprisonment, was cylindrical in shape. The walls used to be as white as every other room, but were now charred and at some points, melted, as if an explosion had taken place here. Or a release of a massive amount of energy...

Cid then focused his eyes on his roommate.

Pieces of precisely shaped steel crisscrossed and bridged each other fifteen feet high and eight feet wide, interconnecting and fitting with each other like a jigsaw puzzle of hydraulics, cylinders, and gears in a fashion that was frighteningly skeletal. And almost human in shape.

Almost.

Within these metal bones, various colored wires roped their way around from section to section like veins and arteries. They all led to the same spot, feeding into a simple, blank monitor that stood facing outward at the neck. From there, leading back down, a clear hollow tube of plastic dropped into the core of the machination, the fiber optics within spiraling as they and it descended until reaching their destination. There, sitting in the pit of what would be its stomach was a steel chamber, storing something he could not see. The core.

The chamber itself was five feet in every direction, spherical in shape. A solitary icon was engraved on the front of it, something that Cid could only make out vaguely as what appeared to be flower petals but he knew had to represent something else. Wires lifted from the sphere like puppet strings, weaving to all parts of the body before leading to what would be the brain, behind the monitor. Below all of this, he could see that what would be its feet were welded to the ground, holding it in place. But that only brought the question of 'why?' into his head, not a comforting thought.

Cid, after finally taking all of this in, felt a shiver go up his spine and took a few steps back until he was up against the door. It felt like he remembered this thing, or he _should_remember it. But he couldn't. Something in his subconscious futilely tugging at his memory.

_Lavos._

What else could it be? What would Project Lavos be without Lavos? His mind quickly tried to rationalize how he knew to make that connection, to draw that name. He had never seen the real Lavos, not being there when the battle against it had been waged. And Lucca had never detailed the beast in her notes. But that was it, and something in his mind told him so.

Reworked by man, the beast had become a machine. Lavos was reborn.

And then the monitor flickered on.


	9. Chapter 9

CHRONO TRIGGER CULMINATIONS  
by  
Jerm

Chapter 9

* * *

Crono, with his sword drawn and ready, crept around the corner of a hut that stood on the outskirts of the village. Keeping out of sight as much as possible, he scanned the surroundings, looking for life or movement. Nothing presented itself after several moments, so he turned back, signaling behind him that it was clear.

Across the clearing from him, Lucca burst from the tree line and quickly tiptoed her way to the wall Crono awaited her at. After she reached him, he nodded and turned back to look for his next move. There was still no noticeable threat, and the feeling he had that this place was empty was becoming more and more acute. But he still couldn't take any chances.

With his back pressed against the uneven clay of the hut's wall, he slowly edged his way around towards the entrance. He held his sword out at an angle, using its surface to try and create a reflection to peer around the corner of the door with. Realizing it was still a bit grungy from the fight with the mantis he brought it back down and wiped at it with his shirt. Which merely smeared the grime even more.

"Here," Lucca whispered behind him, "Use this."

He turned back around to see her offering him a small vial of something clear. Hesitantly, he took it and examined it. He gave her a questioning look.

"It'll work. I use it on my glasses," she assured him, then reached out and added a bit too loudly, "Here."

Crono made a shushing sound, but let her take the bottle from his hand. She responded to his admonishment with a goofy face as she twisted off the cap, then pulled out a rag from her pocket. She tipped the bottle into the cloth for a split second, the contents making a sloshing sound that seemed much too loud for Crono's liking, then offered the cloth to him. He ignored the face she had made, taking the mystery rag from her so she had both hands free to recap her vial. He eyed the thing for a second, still not trusting it.

"Now you rub it on the sharp thing to make it shiny again," Lucca said, always one to help.

He responded with another shush, but commenced with her advice. "I was just wondering what that stuff was, is all," he whispered."

"It's not going to corrode your sword, silly. It's just water and a disinfectant I mixed together," she explained, then thought to add, "And no, it's not drinkable."

Crono nodded, handing her back the rag and holding out his sword once more. Whatever that mixture was, it worked wonders. The sword now shone as though it were almost new. Peering into the angled reflection once more, he saw what he had by now expected at this point. An unpopulated hut. He lowered his sword, but still didn't sheath it. He had to duck his head to get through the low doorway as he entered. Lucca followed, ducking as well and giving a final glance outside.

The hut was cluttered, but not by anything that stood out on an initial glance. To the left and right of the entrance were two hammocks hanging from the wall, about two feet off the ground; the denizens' beds more than likely. On the far wall was an indentation, the ground around it charred and covered in soot. A fireplace obviously, though the opening where the smoke would escape had long since caved in. It hadn't been used in a long time. But beside it, and the cause of a lot of the clutter, was a medium-sized and opened chest. Whoever or whatever had lived here stored all of its belongings there, and they had been scattered all over the floor.

"Should we look for food here or search around for inhabitants some more?" Lucca asked, turning back to face the inside, then added, "Though I guess I already know what you're going to say."

"Yeah, that's a stupid question at this point," Crono nodded and sheathed his sword, "This place is deserted. It looks like it was deserted quite a long time ago."

"Now let's not go that far with our accusations yet," Lucca stepped ahead of him, examining the ground and the various items that adorned it, "It may have been much more recent."

"How can you tell?"

"I can't, I just said don't assume anything yet. Let me look for clues first."

Crono shrugged, and scanned the ground with her, taking the opposite side. He mainly saw utensils and tools, some wooden and some stone, somewhat more primitive than those of his time. But only barely. The further back he got into the hut however, the less the light was able to help. Lucca also noticed this problem around the same time and mumbled something to herself he couldn't hear.

"What?" he asked, looking in her direction.

A bright flash of light erupted from her direction in response, attacking his eyes with searing pain. He threw up his arms and shut his eyes to shield from it, but it was too late. He was temporarily blinded by the flash, tripping over some item on the floor as he reflexively stumbled away. His eyes watered up helplessly, and he covered them with his free hand as he used the other against the wall to right himself from falling.

"I said don't look directly at me," Lucca's voice offered from somewhere before him, "I was casting a fire spell for light."

"Well tell it to me more loudly next time," Crono pleaded, blinking rapidly in an attempt to regain his sight, "Am I okay?"

"Sorry, I'm still used to whispering," she apologized, "But you'll be fine. Give your eyes some time to readjust back. Do you see spots yet?"

"I don't see a damn thing," he complained, "I think I'm blind forever."

"Well, give it time. I'm the expert on bad eyes here, trust me. You're okay."

"Whatever you say," he leaned back against the wall, continuing to rub at his eyes.

He heard her rummaging through something to his right, and realized he could feel a slight heat emanating from her direction. The product of whatever spell she had cast, more than likely. Soon, he could see the spots she had mentioned as they blurred and unblurred and tried to take shape.

"I'm getting better I think," he said, opening his eyes wide in an attempt to try and focus the blurring, "I can see your movement."

"Actually, I'm over here," she said from his left, "But that's good news. I need you to get up and move, I think you're sitting on something."

Crono did as she bid, reaching out to find another wall to orient himself on. He turned to find her blur hunched over another blur on the ground. She was holding a bright blur over whatever it was she was inspecting. He shook his head to try and clear it some more, but it did as much as the eye rubbing and blinking. Nothing.

"What is it?"

Lucca reached down and gingerly picked it up with her free hand, "It's a piece of clothing, I think it used to be a dress."

"A _dress_dress?" he asked, "For a human?"

"It's humanoid, as far as I can tell," she answered, "Two armholes, a neck, and, uh, I guess the bottom opening was for two legs. If I were crazy, I could put it on and I'm sure it'd fit me, more or less."

"The best time to try would be while I'm over here blind, I guess," Crono goaded her, then asked the obvious before she could deliver a spiteful retort, "So the people here are human?"

"Human_oid_," she corrected him. We still don't know the specifics. They could be like the reptites. Animalistic or alien, but bipedal."

"What?" that had all gone straight over his head.

"Nothing," she stuck the cloth in her pack for safekeeping and continued her search, "I don't see any pictures or drawings or anything of that sort, though. I think the beings here were a basic bunch. Doing what they had to survive and not much left for anything else."

"A lot of good that did them," Crono pushed himself off the wall to walk back into the room, his eyesight restored enough he felt safe to move around again.

"Don't be like that," she chastised his cold attitude, "Besides, we don't know anything for sure yet."

"Any food?" he asked, ignoring her barb.

"Nope, and we probably won't find any here," she shook her head and stood, facing him, "I think the village stored all their food together and shared it amongst themselves. Unless this village was looted, which I doubt, I don't see anything that could be currency. So I think the concept of ownership didn't extend too far. Beyond a home, a bed, and tools to work with."

"So there's no food?" he persisted.

"I'm getting to that, Crono. Don't interrupt," she pushed up her glasses and continued, "One of these buildings should be a granary of some sort. If there's any food left, that's where it'll be."

"And water?"

She shrugged, "Maybe the same place. Or maybe they just collected run-off from the side of the mountain nearby. I don't even know how often it rains around here, if at all."

"I'm glad I brought you along, detective," he admitted, half-jokingly.

She laughed at that, but shook her head, "It won't mean a thing if I can't actually lead us to the food or water. Let's start looking before we starve."

Crono drew his sword in response and she snuffed her magic light. Lucca gave one last look inside, then turned and followed him outside, "We'll start in the center and work our way outward. I'm sure that middle building is the most important."

"That's what I had in mind," Crono agreed, "That middle hut looks special anyway."

They advanced that way, much less wary than last time, but still keeping their eyes open for trouble. When they reached the middle hut, Crono poked his sword through the entrance first before following it inside. His eyes darted left, then right to avoid any surprises from his peripheral directions.

But this hut was just as empty and devoid of inhabitants. Instead, it was filled with other things.

"It's a library!" Lucca exclaimed loudly, surprised at their find.

Crono didn't even bother to quiet her, it was too late now, "Well, I guess we can safely say these people were a little intelligent."

"Very," she agreed, walking into the room.

Only one table loitered in the middle of the room, but it was surrounded by bookcases, wall to wall, loaded with books. Lucca quickly grabbed one off the nearest shelf and flipped it open, then gasped in amazement.

"Crono, this one's written in our language."

"That's impossible," he quickly sheathed his sword, nearly impaling himself in the rush, and hurried to her side, looking over her shoulder at the print.

"No, it's real," she argued, turning the pages and skimming through the book, "Let me sit down at that table so I can read this better."

He stepped aside as she took her discovery to the table and sat down. She turned the pages back to page one, then having a second thought, turned it over to the front to look at the title, which was blank.

"Strange," she mumbled, then turned back to the first page.

"Do you need any light? Should I look away for a moment?" Crono asked, preparing to do just that.

"No, I... Well, okay." she recast the spell she had used before to illuminate her surroundings, "I shouldn't have shut it off earlier anyway."

Crono waited a few moments longer before reopening his eyes. Content that all was well, he hovered over her shoulder to have a look himself, "What does it say?"

"I'm still on page one, idiot," Lucca retorted, "Give me time to read a little more."

Crono huffed, "In that case, I'll just go back out and keep looking for food and water. Will you be safe in here while I'm away?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied, her eyes glued to the book before her, "I think we've concluded that this village is deserted by now."

"Alright, I'll be back in thirty minutes at most then," he waved to her as he headed for the exit, "See you then."

"Be careful," she returned the wave lazily, turning the page with her free hand to continue reading.

"You know me."

xxxxx

"Hello?!" Crono bellowed loudly as he strode purposefully into yet another hut.

Like every time before, no answer came. But Crono was beyond caring. He had grown impatient with the slinking around about four huts after leaving Lucca to her study session and just wanted this over with. Besides, he had reasoned with himself, his stomach was making far more noise than his mouth ever could at this point.

Not that he really believed that. But still, its logic suited him at the moment.

Crono scanned his new surroundings quickly, giving himself an abridged version of the room, and almost missed something. Halfway turning towards the door, he caught himself and snapped his head back to the far end of the hut. There, stacked about a foot high, sat a ring of rocks surrounding what he knew to be a very, very deep hole.

A well.

"Hel_lo_," Crono repeated as a statement, elongating the second syllable enticingly.

He stepped towards the well, bending down to scoop up a small pebble about the size of his thumbnail, and peered into the blackness below. After realizing it was too dark to see the bottom, he dropped the rock and stood motionless as he awaited a crack of impact at the bottom or even better, a small splash. After waiting twenty seconds, he gave an exaggerated exhale and scoured the ground around him.

"Need a louder rock," he mumbled to himself.

It was then that he noticed the second surprise this hut had for him. Carefully stepping around the well, Crono advanced towards the wall and the small segment of it that seemed to be moving. As he got closer, he realized it wasn't just more of the wall, but some sort of curtain, gently flowing in a mysterious breeze. It was covered in dust and cobwebs which, coupled with the darkness, camouflaged it very well from beyond ten feet away.

He redrew his sword, getting tired of the maneuver, and held it out, using the tip to push the hanging cloth aside to reveal the other side. Behind it was another hole leading down, this one surrounding a ladder composed of wood and rope. A way down.

"Here we go," Crono gave a satisfied smile and stepped forward.

xxxxx

Lucca looked up with an annoyed expression as a redheaded blur noisily ran into the library before sliding on his feet the last few strides to rest in front of her. Effectively, she had lost her place on the page she was reading.

"Found water," Crono informed her helpfully, resting his palms on the corner of her table.

"Great," she said, an honest statement despite the annoyed tone she gave off, "Did you drink it all?"

"Haven't touched it yet, I thought I'd get you to test it first to see if it's safe," he leaned over on his arms to look at the book she had in front of her, "Found anything in there?"

"No, and I probably won't. This book seems more like a mythology. Nothing mentioned in it seems pertinent to the area around here."

"Oh," Crono added with a lost look on his face.

"By 'pertinent' I mean 'related to,' in case you were wondering."

"I know what pertinent means," Crono straightened himself, slightly insulted, "I just wonder what you meant by it."

"I mean the stories seem set in a-"

"Stories?"

"Yes, stories," Lucca groaned, "That's what this little book was. A collection of fairy tales."

"Oh, sorry," Crono apologized, "I thought it was like an almanac or something."

"They seem set in a less temperate climate than here," Lucca continued, not bothering to berate him further, "As in a permanent frozen tundra."

"Sort of like Zeal?"

"Yes, it popped into my head too," Lucca conceded, "A lot like Zeal, actually. They seemed to worship something on the top of a mountain from what I read so far, but it didn't go into detail. That's all I dug up."

"Well, if you want to take a break from reading, I'd like to show you what I found."

"I've seen water before, Crono."

"Yeah, but it's been a while. You might've forgotten what it looks like," he retorted, "Trust me, you might find something there I couldn't."

"Food maybe?"

"I wish, I didn't see any of that anywhere either. Animals have probably ransacked this village after everyone left. But I thought I should get you before I kept looking for other stuff."

"Alright, alright," taking the hint, she dog-eared the page she was on and shut the book, throwing up a cloud of dust, "I'll finish this later. I could use that drink, come to think of it."

xxxxx

Marle stared at the painting in front of her, bored out of her mind once again. Initially, she had decided it was an image of a burning building of some sorts, but the more she stared at it, the more it seemed to blur and lose definition. her eye would pick up on a certain part and sudden it looked like a paint smear. Soon it was all just a swirl of colors that gave her a headache.

"Are you okay in there?"

Marle whirled towards the door at the voice, and was immediately given an even stronger headache as the light shone in through it to hit her eyes. She squinted her eyes as her hands automatically raised up to shield them. The door was shut before they had time to fully adjust to the light however, leaving her blinded to the dark room even more. But she knew she was not alone anymore.

"I see you've been admiring my finest work," her visitor said.

"You paint between kidnappings?" Marle demanded angrily, ignoring his annoyingly jovial tone.

"No, I don't. I didn't mean the painting itself. Just the... Well..." he suddenly changed the subject, "I just came here to bring you food."

A small light erupted before her suddenly, a flame. She had no idea where it had come from and gasped in surprise before composing herself. It enveloped a small torch and grew until it gave a flickering light to the entire room, illuminating her surroundings at last.

The room was medium-sized and nicely furnished for what she thought of as a prison. A clean bed sat in the corner with a waist-high desk beside it. The window overlooking the bed was barred on the outside, however the curtains tried to conceal that as best they could. A light blue, spongy carpet ran underneath it all, though seemingly purple in the reddish light of the fire.

Plus there were the paintings, which adorned every wall. She had counted at least a dozen of them at first, but now the light gave sight to more. They were of people, of events, landscapes, and some that seemed to just be a splatter of colors. The one that drew the most attention from her however was the one over the head of the bed, a framed painting of herself.

Her examination was brought short by a clatter. Marle turned back to see her captor place a tray of food on the desk. As his hands left, she scanned her dinner, which was not nearly as grand as her room. Soup and bread. The lone utensil was a spoon.

"Just leave it here," she said, "I'll eat it later when I'm hungry."

"You'd best eat it quick before it gets cold," the man said, refusing to budge.

"It's already cold," Marle responded, "It's bread."

"I meant the soup," he corrected.

Marle simply dipped a single finger into the broth and concentrated. A brief twinge fluttered down her arm and into the soup, her own personal magic. The ice spell froze the soup solid, trapping the vegetables within.

"I think it's already cold, too."

The man smiled at this, as if oblivious to the threat her magic may pose to him. This unsettled her a bit, he wasn't afraid of her power. He instead sat down on her bed, steepling his hands above his knees.

"Well, in that case, let's talk again."

"I won't tell you about Marshall, I've already made that clear," Marle immediately tried to close the conversation.

"I know, that was a poor choice of words for myself to use. At the time they seemed okay," he shrugged and continued, "Nobody could tell me about Marshall because he doesn't tell anybody about himself to begin with."

"Who are you?"

He ignored her question and continued, "What I meant to say at the time was something more along the lines of 'Now we just wait for him to show up.' He always had a habit of doing that when he was needed, you see."

Her previous query fruitless, Marle changed direction, "Then what do you want to talk to me about?"

"What do _you_want to talk about?"

"I don't... I mean nothing. I don't want to talk to you about anything. I want you to let me go."

The man laughed, "You won't eat, you won't chit chat. You seem positively bored, engaging in at least one of those might help that."

"Alright, then tell me. Who are you?" she tried again.

In response, he stood up and towered over her. But still without seeming a threat, "I can't tell you that, I'm sorry. That's my own little secret for the moment. Maybe someday though, I'll be able to share it with you. But trust me, it's not something you need to know right now."

"Then don't bother," she shrunk away from him despite the hardness in her voice.

"Well, in that case..." leaving the sentence hanging, he stepped towards her, then past her, reaching out with his hand and placing a finger onto the top of her iced soup.

Marle's eyes grew wide as she watched the ice begin to melt, then steam. It began to bubble and pop around his finger as it somehow reheated itself, causing him to flinch briefly in mild pain. Soon it was back to the way it was before she had tampered with it herself. He drew his finger away and to his mouth, sucking the now hot broth off of it, "It's not bad, you know. Probably just not what you're used to."

"...How?" she managed to get out, staring, instead of at him, at the soup.

"Yes, well that's my other little secret. One I'll gladly share with you, like I said before, when the time is right," he gestured at his torch, "You don't think I lit this thing with the bread, do you?"

He turned towards the door, prepared to leave, "Now please eat. I have no intention of starving you."

She ignored his parting words as her mind tried to digest what she had just seen. Magic obviously, but he shouldn't have been able to do that. In this day and age in fact, she only knew of four actual people who could. And from Lucca's notes, those four were almost it for every point beyond the time of Zeal. Five of them had been accounted for.

But there had been that one missing piece they never found...

The door shut and sealed her in her room, bringing the darkness back and breaking her from her thoughts. Marle sighed and decided to take the man's advice, she could dwell on magic later. She picked up the spoon and inspected it. Clean, like everything else she been given so far, at least. She sat down on the bed, scooting over towards the desk and tray, and began eating.

_The man was right,_ she thought to herself as she swallowed, _it's not bad._


	10. Chapter 10

CHRONO TRIGGER CULMINATIONS  
by  
Jerm

Chapter 10

* * *

The room shone red.

In the monitor's screen, centered in its painfully red backdrop, Cid saw his own face, staring back at him in perfect symmetry. The soulless expression on its face unnerved Cid, but he stood his ground for the time being. His mind tried to work out what was going on, hoping it gave him time before getting down to whatever business it had with him. Instinctively, he blinked and his mirror blinked as well. In perfect symmetry.

_What's this?_Cid thought to himself, the silliness of the whole thing calming his nerves a bit.

He was taken aback however when those mental words flashed onto the screen, superimposing themselves in white letters over his image for a second before fading away. Cid cocked his head to the side curiously, and his image mimicked him.

Slowly, he stepped away from the door, knowing it wasn't going to open for him. The face continued to stare at him emotionlessly as he slowly approached the mechanical monster. Cid knew he should be scared, but being backed into a corner seemed to give him enough adrenaline to fight off the fear. He decided to confront Lavos.

"What do you want?" he demanded.

The face, his face, continued to stare coldly at him. Then the screen flickered, a line of static danced down it top to bottom, and the face in the screen began to move its mouth as though speaking, but no sound emanated from it.

Cid opened his own mouth to take the opportunity to speak again, but was cut off suddenly as a voice boomed directly into his mind.

**SUBMIT YOUR MIND TO ME**

The words spoken flashed onto the screen, in white letters just as Cid's thoughts had been. But Cid barely noticed this as he instead grabbed his head in pain and fell to the floor in a heap. Any advantage he thought he had, was suddenly lost. The words weren't entering his ears, they seemed to be drilling themselves straight into his brain. He contorted himself and looked up at the screen again, his doppleganger staring back at him, the mouth still moving in soundless speech. Then suddenly the monitor began to make a whirring, whining noise as gears and hydraulics became animated. It jerked from its perch at the head of the machine and crept over to the spasming figure below like a crane. The screen came face to face with its captive and flickered again. Cid could merely stare at it and brace himself for whatever was going to happen next.

Then images began to flash on the screen in rapid succession. He couldn't make them out, but they tore into his head just as strongly as the voice did. He closed his eyes to shut it out, turning his head away from Lavos, but that didn't help. His mind's eye continued where the screen left off.

**RELEASE YOUR MEMORIES**

The voice hammered him again, along with the images. Cid began to drag himself across the floor, away from Lavos and towards where he remembered the door being. Reaching it, he began to bang on it once more, not even bothering to rise from the ground to do so. He tried to call out, but all he could do was scream in pain.

**RELEASE YOUR MEMORIES**

"No!" he managed to yell in response.

Cid then realized what it was doing. Lavos was digging into his mind somehow, delving into his memories, trying to find something. He grasped onto that concept and tried to find a way to fight it, to prevent it. His hands drew away from the door and wrapped around his head as he curled into a ball, trying to focus on a way to block Lavos from its prying.

He needed to focus on something. Something Lavos wasn't interested in. Something it already knew, perhaps?

He blanked his mind as best he could, thinking of where he was. The white walls of his prison, the white floor, ceiling; white everything. He used that, building a mental wall of whiteness to shut away the images that continued to batter him. Soon, the pain began to dull as well, as thought it no longer had a point to fester and boil. Then finally, it halted.

Cid risked another glance at the monitor, seeing once more his own face staring back at him on the screen. It seemed to be studying him, trying to pry a weakness out of him, a means to break him. Cid slowly crawled back to his feet, grimacing as his sore muscles resisted him. Standing once more however, he realized he was unsure of what to say. Instead, Cid merely scowled at the screen and awaited a second strike if it came.

_Does it have emotions?_ he thought to himself in a moment of bizarre philosophy, _Is it calculating me or thinking about me?_

The words flitted across the screen as he thought them and Cid almost laughed at the ludicrousness of the situation. But he stopped himself when he saw the voiceless mouth begin to move once more.

The monitor pulled back and retreated to its original spot atop the mechanical shoulders of its host, the face's mouth continuing to move as if mumbling quietly to itself. Then once it stopped moving, the monitor shut off. Cid blinked in surprise and took a step backwards. He was even more puzzled now; had he won?

Or had Lavos gleaned what it wanted from him already somehow?

The tension built in him so tightly that his body jerked reflexively when, with a snap, the lights shut off, following suit with the monitor. He stepped away another step, his back striking the door. Without turning around, he reached his hand back and knocked on the glass, "Hello? Doctor? Can you let me out now? I think I'm finished."

And then it hit him again. This time there were no images. There was no voice. No red light or face staring at him. It was pure force of will that struck him. And there was no pain.

Cid blacked out instantly.

xxxxx

"Yes, this definitely counts as water," Lucca mused as she turned away from the rope ladder, the illuminating fire spell making its third appearance, "Good boy, Crono."

Crono laughed at the understatement and swept his arms towards the underground lake before them, "After you!"

"Oh yes," she remembered, "You were going to have me test the water to see if it was safe first. You always were my most valued and trusted friend."

"Well, what are frien-"

She clamped a hand over his mouth as she passed by him, interrupting his cliche before it got dangerously close to completion. One in a row was enough. He swatted her hand away, but didn't finish his quote. Instead, he followed her and her light as they trodded along what seemed like a makeshift walkway that led to the edge of the lake.

The lake itself stretched far away, turning into a river on the far end, which winded a ways before leaving their sight. They couldn't see it well yet, so they couldn't be sure if it flowed into or out from the lake. But if she had to wager a guess, Lucca would say it flowed into the lake, as it came from the direction of the mountain that overlooked the village. Perhaps fed by water seepage from the surface. Enhancing her theory were the numerous stalactites that dotted the domish ceiling over their heads, which towered over them about thirty feet up at its lowest point.

Lucca reached the bottom of the trail and hunched down, leaning over the water and cupping her hands into a bowl. With a moment's pause, she dipped them into the water, filling up before bringing them out. Giving a shrug to Crono, she brought her rapidly draining hands to her face and drank. She shrank away with a giggle as some of the cold water managed to drip down her shirt.

"How is it?" Crono asked as she finished and regained her composure.

"It tastes a bit like sulfur, but it'll do," she responded, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, "It's cold, but what do you expect?"

Crono stooped down beside her and took a slurping drink himself. Shaking the water from his hands, he confided to her, "I should probably mention that I already had a drink earlier, though. Just thought I'd let you think you were being brave for a moment."

She gave a ladylike snort in response and took another drink before leaning back on her hands, the cool rocks soothing to her. "I wonder if there are any fish in here," she mused, "That would cover our food needs."

Crono made as if to take off his shirt, "Want me to check?"

"No, please. Spare me that," she responded, covering her eyes in mock fright, but then paused briefly and added as an afterthought, "Although you could use a bath with all that mantis gunk and travel dust on you."

"No, the water's probably too cold," Crono suddenly backtracked, releasing his shirt, "I was just kidding anyway."

"No, it's cold but not freezing. As long as you don't stay in for too long it'll be okay."

She stood back up and started to walk back up the steps, "Go ahead, I'll wait for you back at the library. I need to read a bit more."

"Are you sure?" he was still skeptical about the idea, not entirely trusting of the dark depths of the lake.

"Don't worry, Crono. You're healthy enough," she pointed an accusing finger in his direction suddenly, "But that stuff's going to stink eventually and neither of us need that."

"You probably smell pretty bad yourself, you know," he turned the argument around on her, though he knew he had already lost, "With that mantis dust and stuff."

"Yeah, I know," she admitted, "But I thought I'd wait until you're done before I take my turn."

She took a hold of the ladder, and without another word or even a look back, she climbed up and out of sight. In her wake, Crono shrugged and put in his last words, "Okay, fine. But if I find any fish, you have to cook them."

xxxxx

"You're much stronger than initially thought, Cid. You should be proud."

Cid stared at the ground ahead of him with bloodshot eyes, ignoring the fake praise. The tiles passed and disappeared below his feet as he trudged on mechanically beside his caretaker. His limbs felt completely numb and exhausted, and seemed to move on their own accord. As if they had given up before him and were ready to follow the doctor's orders.

He had just been through hell.

When he awoke, he found himself lying before the door to Lavos' room, sprawled across the floor awkwardly as though he had merely been dragged out and dropped. If he hadn't been so numb, he knew he would be sore from the hard, cold floor. He had looked up to see Dr. Y looking down at him, a new emotion of anger on his wrinkled face.

That anger told him all he needed to know. Cid had beaten them this time. But he knew it was an empty victory, because after his mind recuperated enough that it wouldn't pass out so easily, there would be a second trip. He was going to need an escape plan before then, but he was starting to worry. He certainly wasn't in any proper state-mentally or physically-at the moment to be thinking of or trying such a plan. And before he would be, the second trip was going to happen.

Worry and doubt began to creep up on him, and his weakened mind couldn't fight it off at the moment.

His feet stopped and he realized he was before his room-his prison-once more. He ceased his thoughts briefly and watched as the doctor reached out and prepared to enter the password into the keypad. Then remembering something, he stepped over and blocked Cid's view of it.

"Damn," Cid muttered to himself.

Dr. Y laughed darkly at this, knowing he had read the boy's thoughts, "It won't be that easy anymore."

Cid realized though, that the man had left his back open to him. He reached out slightly, but knew he was in no state to overpower anybody. Still, he mumbled out the threat, "I could take you right now, you know."

"I know, but you won't," the doctor finished entering the password and turned back to Cid, "Maybe tomorrow."

The door opened, but Cid remained rooted for the moment, "I'm hungry."

"Too bad," Dr. Y shook his head, "We'll save it for breakfast in the morning."

With that he reached out and grabbed Cid by the front of his plain shirt with a speed that belied his age. Surprised and weak as he was, Cid could do nothing as he was thrown roughly through the doorway to stumble painfully to his knees and roll across the room. He came to a stop abruptly as his shoulder slammed into the wrought iron leg of his bed, forcing a moan from his mouth.

"Now get some sleep, you little brat."

The door shut, sealing him in near darkness. Cid remained where he was, half under his bed, curled into a ball of pain and misery. He was too hungry to sleep, and despite knowing whose side the doctor was really on from the beginning, he felt betrayed as well. He was so very, very alone.

All of these realizations came crashing down on him in a dark despair and he turned away from the door to huddle under the bed. He finally allowed himself to cry.

xxxxx

Cid was standing in the clearing again. Within the circle of trees surrounding the field and the shack that didn't seem to belong. It's door open, leading to a darkness that caused a primordial fear to well up in him.

He was in that dream again.

_When did I fall asleep?_Cid wondered to himself, not caring how self aware he had become in what was normally such a random, disorienting mental state.

More important was the question of what was going to happen.

Remembering last time, the hand that had removed him from the dream, Cid whirled around to face the forest and the tree he had bumped up against before. But it was empty, devoid of anybody. He was alone.

Insisting otherwise however, were the whispering voices. They returned, a cacophony of noise and sound, syllables that intermingled with others to be left wordless, meaningless. He slowly turned back towards their origin, the opening of the shack.

_"Come here,"_the voices seemed to say suddenly amidst the whispering.

He took a step forward, seemingly at the behest of the voice that beckoned him. He tried to stop, but his legs seemed to have a mind of their own. Like the dreams he remembered, suddenly he was no longer in control. The siren song pulled at his body relentlessly and he took another step.

_"Enter,"_ the voices continued, _"You will find peace within."_

But something told him he wouldn't. He couldn't enter that door. He wished it were just the hotel like it should have been in the beginning of this nightmare. Where he hadn't been captured and tormented, his mind and the world hadn't betrayed him yet. But try as he might, suddenly he couldn't remember why he was even at that hotel to begin with. Where had he been going?

_Had I even been there?_

He tried to pull up the memories, but the whispering was so distracting, he couldn't focus.

His legs took another step forward and he found himself halfway across the clearing. The door seemed to grow larger as he approached, and not from a visual point of view. It seemed to envelop the house and tower over him after every step, swallowing the breadth of the small world he existed in now.

_"This is your home."_

Then something seemed to pass across the blackness of the doorway. It lasted for a split-second, but Cid's mind caught it and froze the memory in his eyes. The dim outline of a human face, as if it had leaned too far into the sunlight for a moment too long before pulling itself back in.

Someone was inside watching him.

Waiting for him.

_"I almost have you."_

Cid broke out of his trance, and turned away in a run. To get as far away from that ghostly face as he possibly could. But before he had covered any ground, the world went searing white.

xxxxx

Cid's eyes flew open reflexively, as if trying to escape the nightmare before his mind was ready. He felt his heart thump in his chest, the heat of his rushing blood mixing with the cold of his sweat. As his vision slowly adjusted to the dim light however, he realized he hadn't completely left his dream.

"Almost," came a soft, far less antagonistic voice in the shadows before him.

It was then he saw something reaching out for him from the direction of the voice, a hand. Cid jumped up in a panic, but only made it a fraction of the distance before his head struck the underside of his bed. Luckily it was the mattress this time, and he didn't knock himself out. Though he was sure it would bruise. Fully disoriented now he crawled backwards, out from under the bed and away from what had been reaching for him. Half standing, he gurgled out a noise, fighting the urge to yell in either fear or pain, as soon as he made up his mind which. One hand went to the back of his head to feel for a knot as his other went to his chest to calm his already tormented heart.

"Calm down. Shh..." the voice continued to sooth from underneath his bed, "I'm not going to hurt you."

The voice was decidedly female, he deduced. But the tone it set, he didn't like. It spoke like it was attempting to calm a startled animal, a cornered beast.

Then again, at this point that might be closer to what he felt like than anything else.

The voice changed tactics, "Could you come back down here? I've got food."

Cid actually let out a laugh at hearing this, the absurdity of finding someone under his bed offering food. He quickly brought his hand from feeling around the back of his head to slap over his mouth, muffling the sound. As absurd as the situation seemed, he was very hungry at this point. There was no reason to blow it.

He bent back over, using the bed to balance himself as he peered underneath the mattress. His eyes worked themselves overtime reading the darkness he was in, and he could make out the wall on the far end, though sideways. And in the middle was an air vent, the mystery arm still spouting from within. The hand gave him a friendly wave before resting on the floor.

"Don't be so obvious. They have a camera in this room watching you," the stranger hissed quietly, "It doesn't record sound at least, so we can talk as long as the guard outside doesn't hear. But don't _look_like you're talking to somebody." Cid leaned back onto the ground, acting as though he was trying to sleep again, crawling partially under his bed to hide his face from anything.

"Who are you?" he asked, still not fully trusting of her.

"I'm a friend," came the reply, barely over a whisper, "At least in a few minutes I hope to be. If you think you can trust me."

"It would be nice if I can," Cid acknowledged, "Can you get in here? Can you open that vent?"

"No, sorry," came the reply, "I just brought some food. I thought you'd be hungry since they didn't feed you."

"I'm very," he agreed, "What do you have?"

"Bread. No butter, though," there was a pause, "Nothing to drink either. Sorry. I couldn't find a way to sneak it in past security. Let alone carry it through these narrow vents without spilling it."

"It's okay, no need to keep saying sorry. I should be happy to get anything from this place at the moment."

"Here," the hand disappeared back into the grate briefly, then reemerged with a roll, "It was cooked a few hours ago, so it's cold. But it's still edible."

Cid stretched his arm out, trying to keep his body still for the camera, and grasped the meal, pulling it back to an awaiting mouth. It was indeed cold, but he didn't care. He chewed rapidly, trying to get it to his stomach as soon as possible. He could savor the taste on the second or third bite.

"Take your time, that's all I brought this time," the voice seemed bemused by his eating habits.

"This time?" Cid half-mumbled through the food, "I'm not getting out?"

"I can't, I didn't bring anything to get you out. Besides this way isn't safe for you. It ends still pretty far into this base, too much security to run through. I had enough trouble navigating that part alone."

"How did you get in then?" he swallowed and held back from taking another bite so he could get more information from her.

"Fake ID and all that. It's not easy, but I'm more up to wandering around here freely than you are. They're not looking for me."

"That's true," he admitted, "Do you plan to get me out? Or were you just here to feed me?"

"Of course," the voice was beginning to sound fatigued, not wanting to answer so many questions, "But we'll get to that later. I need to work out a plan."

"You don't have one now?"

"No, sorry. This was short notice," she paused a moment after this, collecting her thoughts to finish the conversation, "I have to get back out now. Finish your meal and I'll try to have something planned tomorrow. And after we've escaped and all that, I'll tell you everything I know. I'm positive you have questions."

"I have questions about everything right now," Cid responded, "I'll try to be patient."

"Okay then, good night, Cid."

_She knew my name,_he realized.

"Wait!" he knew he had called a bit too loudly, even as a whisper, and flinched at his own idiocy.

A long moment passed and he began to fear she had left him already. A pang of loneliness started to set in as the moment became longer. Finally the voice returned, noticeably stiff, "What?"

"What's your name? I mean, you know my name and all..." he left it hanging.

"Celia," she replied after a pause.

"Celia," he repeated, then replied, "Thanks."

"You're welcome," the voice was honest, but seemed more urgent now as she continued, "Now really, I have to go. I'm really sorry, but if I'm not out of here in the next twenty minutes, they shut down the room this vent exits and I _don't_get out. And then they catch me. And they'll do worse to me than they do to you."

"I doubt that," Cid said, forcing some humor into the topic, though he didn't feel it.

Suddenly her hand reached out through the bars once more; no food this time, but with a gesture he still understood. He extended his matching hand and grasped hers, shaking it. The contact alone made him feel better, much less alone. He felt hope well up in him once again, knowing that someone knew he was here. Someone was helping him.

"I'm gonna get you out of here, Cid. I promise you," she tightened her grip on him, "And when we're out and free as birds, I'll buy you a big meal to make up for that roll. And while you eat I'll tell you everything about everything I know. Deal?"

He reciprocated her grip and nodded, knowing she could see him backlit from the light streaming through the door's window, "Deal."

"Don't forget to hide the crumbs, either," she added as an afterthought, "There'd be hell to pay then."

She released him and drew her hand away, snaking it back through the bars, "Well, wish me luck."

"Good luck, Celia," he responded, saying her name mostly as a means to not forget it.

And then she was gone. He couldn't see, but he felt it. The loneliness creeping back into his heart. But still, he had hope he hadn't had before. And it did well to combat the negative feelings. He smiled to himself, and reminded by her promise of a big meal, he took another bite out of his roll, feeling suddenly much better than he did hours before.


	11. Chapter 11

CHRONO TRIGGER CULMINATIONS  
by  
Jerm

Chapter 11

* * *

**_Magus._**

Janus snapped his head up at the voice, breaking out of his half-hearted attempt to rest. Peering to the space across from him, he saw Schala, who was also just awakening. Something had spoken to her as well. She rubbed her eyes, then glanced back at him when she realized he was looking. He gave a small nod of acknowledgement and turned, facing the crystal and where the voice had originated.

It was, as usual, stoic and lifeless. But he knew Murasame lay beneath that guise. Watching him.

"What is it?" he called out when the voice didn't continue.

**_It is time for you to fulfill your purpose to me._**

He smirked at this demand, his Magus side swelling to the surface briefly. Leaning forward in his containment to glare at the crystal, he retorted, "I'm not obligated to fulfill anything of yours."

**_Such selfishness,_** the being condescended, **_You became obligated the moment you sealed my powers and created imbalance in the world._**

Janus didn't respond to this accusation at first, mulling over the words in an attempt to find what Murasame actually meant by them instead. Finally, he decided he needed clarification, "What imbalance?"

**_We spoke of this before, before you sealed me. Your ignorance is unsettling, wizard,_** the voice maintained its patience however, **_The world is balanced through the cycle of creation and destruction. Without me, there is no check placed against creation._**

The being's attitude offended Janus and his response reflected that, "And?"

**_Change is only possible through minor amounts of destruction. Without this, change is impossible. The cycle of creation is repeated and can only stagnate. The world becomes trapped in a moment._**

Janus didn't fully understand what was being said, much less the implications. So instead, he cut to the chase, "And how do I stop this? You want me to restore your powers? Set you loose on the world again?"

**_Even if you were still alive, that would be impossible. The seal is permanent. Your purpose will be to likewise seal Masamune._**

"Even if?" Janus focused on the first sentence, "If I'm still dead, why am I breathing? Feeling pain? Requiring rest?"

**_You are sharing Schala's life force, she still lives. She will also be necessary for this, but in another manner._**

Janus glanced over at his sister when she was mentioned, but she seemed oblivious to him. She seemed to be having a conversation of her own with the dark god. He turned back to the crystal and pondered its offer.

"How would I seal its power?"

**_You've done it before._**

"I don't think Masamune would be so foolish as to await me nearby another of those crystals," Janus was blatant in the wording of that insult, no longer caring about being diplomatic, "Are you planning on sharing yours with it?"

**_All that is required is that you shatter the blade once more. That will be sufficient._**

"So all you want me to do is hunt down that frog and break his weapon?" Janus became skeptical one more, "And that will save the world?"

**_It is merely a step in the right direction,_** the being replied, then added, _**He is no longer a frog now that you are dead.**_

Janus couldn't help but give a chuckle at this, remembering the stipulations of his spell. He had completely forgotten that consequence of his actions. But then he remembered another, "But if I'm dead, how could I affect the material world?"

**_That is where your sister plays her role._**

Janus' eyes narrowed as his mind jumped ahead of Murasame. He shook his head and banged a fist against the glass of his containment, "That had better not mean you're going to sacrifice her life to restore mine!"

**_No. She will survive. But I require her life force to sustain you during your trip._**

"I refuse," Janus finally decided to end this, "Kill me off and free her. I've-"

**_This is your responsibility, Magus. You must do your part to fix the world._**

"I have done more than my fair share of that already."

**_And more than your fair share of destroying it._**

Janus glared, but couldn't create a defense against the accusation. It was true. In frustration he struck the glass once more.

**_I can let you die, and free your sister. But then when the fabric of existence folds under its own weight, there will be no saving her._**

"How can I believe what you're saying is true?" Janus asked.

**_Because you know my purpose in the end is to ensure the balance of the world, against Masamune. Through the destruction I cause, it is only to maintain that creation doesn't overpopulate itself out of control._**

"Then I can't believe you."

**_You mean you can't trust me. Believing and trusting are two finely different things. But remember this: even if I can't be trusted, you know through inaction what will happen. You know what I say up to that point is true._**

Janus was silent at this, thinking. On the outside he was steadfast in his refusal, but deep down a seed was being planted, that maybe he really did have to do this. That balance really was removed. His eyes darted over to Schala once more and he reminded himself everything he had gone through to save her. It would all be for naught if he made the wrong choice here...

"I want you to prove to me what you say is true. Then I will help you."

There was a pause as the encased god considered his request. Finally, it came to a decision, **_Very well._**

Emboldened by this, Janus cut in with one more request, "And I want you to promise nothing will happen to my sister."

**_Whatever happens, I no longer am in a position to affect that. You more than I should make that promise now._**

The answer was immediate and blunt. Janus knew before his mind had registered the words, that it was an honest retort. By his own making, whatever was to befall them in the future was his own doing. He gave a sidelong glance over to the crystal prison holding his sister, Schala still oblivious to the world outside her own personal conversation.

"I promise." he mumbled to himself, the one person who needed to be reminded.

With that a gate materialized in front of the throne, showering the room with light. Red light. Janus shielded his eyes against the intrusion and noticed that his container was gone, faded away. Peering to the side, he found that Schala's remained. She was still locked in some sort of stasis.

He turned back towards the gate, a swirl of infinite red that howled and pulled at him as though it had a life of its own.

**_Through this gate you will find your answers._**

"Where does it lead?" Janus glanced over to the throne, wanting a more specific answer.

**_It leads to the point where the essence of existence ceases to be. Where the caretakers of the world can no longer prevent the unraveling of the world's layers. In the blink of an eye you will see all matter and all energy disappear like the illusions they really are, dissolving before your eyes._**

"And what would happen to me as I was there?"

**_In place of this loss, dark matter will return. Encompassing reality once more with what you perceive as demons and nightmares. They would destroy you. Mentally, physically, psychologically. You, like the rest of existence, would no longer be,_** Murasame gave a brief pause at this point, letting the scenario sink into Janus's mind, **_That is the only way I can prove to you what I say is true._**

Janus stared at the gate for several moments longer. The pull felt much stronger now, almost like it was trying to envelop him against his will. He took a step back in response.

"The only way..." he echoed to himself.

**_It is the absolute proof._**

Janus shook his head, a decision was already made for him, "In that case, close the gate. I'll take your word for it."

**_You should know by now that I'm not capable of lying. The destruction of truth is not my agenda._**

The gate shut, throwing the room into darkness once more. Faintly, Janus could make out the glow of the crystal that sealed the dark god. Remembering that he was no longer a prisoner as well, he approached the dark god's prison.

"How am I to do this then?" he asked, keeping his voice firm to halt any thought that he had been cowed into submission.

**_You are to hunt down the bearer of Masamune and shatter the blade. The method is up to you... Now approach the throne, Magus._**

Without question, Janus did as he was told. He stepped past the crystal and strode over to the great chair behind it. As he neared it, he saw something sitting atop it. A sword, pitch black in color, was plunged halfway down into the seat of the throne.

"What's this?" he asked over his shoulder.

**_It is my blade, the Murasame. It will be your means to shatter the Masamune._**

Janus tentatively reached out, but stopped as his hand hovered over the hilt. Despite not having touched it, the power of the blade seemed to jump to his hand like a spark. That power sent a chill down his spine and he had trouble willing his hand further.

_This is for Schala._he reminded himself.

Heaving a great sigh, Janus grabbed the hilt, feeling the power strike him the instant contact was made. The blackness of the blade seemed to seep from it and envelop his hand, then his arm. He fought down panic as the process continued, the darkness enveloping him completely like a haze. Bringing himself under control, he pulled with all his might, grunting with the effort. With a hissing ring, the sword came free from its temporary hilt to be held up by its new owner.

Janus stared at his new weapon and realized something wasn't quite right. It was only half a sword. Like the Masamune long before, it had been broken in two. He turned from the throne and held it out towards the crystal, "It's broken."

**_We were broken in two by the Frog during his struggle with the girl._**

"You want me to fight a trained swordsman with a useless weapon," Janus pressed his point, becoming angry with his host.

He swung the blade around to make his point. A half sword was like fighting with a knife.

**_When you agreed to this you were under the impression you would be unarmed,_** Murasame reminded him, **_You are a wizard, a weapon should be secondary to you._**

Janus stared at the crystal, trying to form a response. As he sat there a new gate opened up between him and the monolith, startling him. Like the last one, this gate was red in color. But at the same time, it seemed so much more soothing to him.

**_Through this gate, you will rejoin the living. It is your sister's life that sustains you, remember that._**

At mention of her, Janus gave another glance over to Schala. She was now staring at him; whatever she had been discussing with Murasame was now over. Placing her hand against the surface of her glass chamber, she spoke to him. But he could hear nothing through the wall of her prison. He nodded to her in response to whatever it was she said, merely to try and ease any anxiety that she might be feeling.

"I will," Janus finally answered, his gaze shifting the Murasame.

**_Then proceed._**

Turning away from his sister, Janus held his broken blade out and stepped into the gate.

xxxxx

Lucca glanced up from her current book as Crono stepped into the library, making an entrance that was much calmer than his last. Getting a good look at him, she began to laugh when she saw he was absolutely soaking wet from head to toe, his red hair matted down over his head like it was painted on. But the laugh quickly ended when she realized he was also dripping water everywhere he went. And he was marching straight towards her and her pile of books.

Lucca jumped up, rounding the table to cut him off before he could finish that trip. Her magic fire she was using for light sputtered and died as she abandoned it. "Crono, what are you doing?" she demanded, getting his attention, "Stop, you're going to ruin the books!"

Crono halted in his tracks as she reached him and held out his arms in an exaggerated shrug, "Sorry, but didn't have anything to dry myself off with. You didn't happen to find any towels lying around, by any chance?"

"I've been here the whole time," Lucca reminded him, shaking her head, "And I don't think people in this dimension brought towels to the library."

"Well, I'm cold," Crono informed her, "Any chance you could start a fire for me?"

Lucca laughed at this and began to think, "Okay... we can get some firewood from-"

"No, we don't need to go all that trouble," Crono cut her off, "Just use your magic light you had, that should be enough to dry me off."

Lucca rolled her eyes at his suggestion, but caved in. She wasn't in any mood to wander around just yet anyway. She needed to read a bit more and...

Her memory twitched at the mention of reading as she suddenly remembered something she had to tell him. "Oh yeah, Crono," she began, her tone becoming serious, "As I was reading, I came across some things-"

"Lucca, the fire," he reminded her, as he folded his arms around his torso, "Please, my teeth are chattering."

"Oh!" she mentally slapped her head, "I already forgot, sorry."

Lucca held out her hand and a ball of fire erupted, filling the room with flickering light. Crono immediately huddled up to it, causing her to fear that he would burst into flames if he got any closer. "Thanks," he acknowledged, then reminded her again, "You were saying?"

Lucca stalled briefly to remind herself where she was interrupted, then continued, "This dimension seems very familiar to Zeal. The stories, the history, all that."

Lucca backed up and sat down on the table behind her, "I was starting to think we were sent back to our own world, but in a time that's post-Zeal. Where the ice age has ended and civilization is starting to rebuild. But then I find other things that counter that."

"Like what?" Crono fought the urge to follow her over to the table, knowing how she felt about the books.

"Like no mention of Lavos. It should be tied so deeply to Zeal, but I'm not getting anything. And in fact, there's nothing about the floating continent."

"So we're in a dimension that's like Zeal in technology, but not history. Is that what you're saying?"

"I don't know what I'm saying... But here I-" Lucca stopped speaking as she twisted around at the hip to find the book she was looking for.

As she fumbled about, Crono took the time to shake his hands through his almost dry hair, ruffling it up the way he liked it. Finally Lucca turned back to him, a book in hand.

"In this book it's got a picture," rather than tell him Lucca opened it up to the appropriate page and turned the book around so Crono could see it.

Crono leaned forward and stared at the illustration. It was a human female, dressed in formal attire. Instantly, he realized that this meant the denizens of this dimension were just as human as he and Lucca were. As that realization sunk in, Crono continued to stare at the drawing. The person depicted seemed so familiar to him. Finally, he turned his eyes back to Lucca, "Wow."

"Wow is right," she agreed, "Did you look at the name?"

He glanced back at the book and did just that. Captioned under the photo was a simple name: "Queen Zeal".

"Wow," he repeated.

Lucca put the book down beside her, leaving it open for the time being, "You want me to let you digest this for a moment?"

"No, just tell me what it means," Crono waved her off, "You're the one who's been reading up on these people and everything. I just swam around naked in their drinking water."

"I don't know what it means. For sure, that is," Lucca closed her eyes in thought as if to shut out the mental image Crono had inadvertently tried to plant, "But if it's what I _think_, it rewrites everything I've thought about the boundaries of the fifth dimension."

Lucca looked down at the book beside her, and the picture of Queen Zeal stared back at her, "What if other dimensions aren't entirely different worlds with their own species and planets and stuff. What if they're simply alternate timelines?"

Crono began to fit pieces together and caught up with Lucca rather fast, "You mean like what if this world we're in is just our world, but in a reality where the kingdom of Zeal didn't tap into Lavos's power?"

Lucca almost corrected him, opening her mouth to speak, but realized he had hit it on the dot. Instead she stuttered out something incomprehensible at Crono's quick deduction, her eyes widening in surprise, before saying something else, "Very good, Crono. You're getting better at this stuff."

"I've been around time travel just as long as you have," he reminded her, slightly insulted, "You just spent more time studying it is all."

"Yeah, sorry," she admitted, "It's a force of habit."

She jumped off the table and began pacing in front of him, "But if that's true, it still doesn't explain what happened to the people here. I don't think the books'll tell us that. In so many words."

Crono nodded, then formed a plan, "You want me to look around other places while you take your bath?"

"Oh yeah, _that,_" Lucca said, reminded that she was going to wash up after he was done, "Yeah, I need to get to that before it turns dark. Go ahead and look around. Collect anything that looks like a clue. We'll meet up in the library again when we're both done."

"Alright, and if I run into people?"

Lucca made a gesture and the ball of fire near Crono fizzled out in a puff of smoke, jarring his attention. He had almost forgotten about it. "I don't know," she admitted, "If they're friendly, ask them for food and I'll join you shortly... If not..."

"I don't feel like getting into a fight," he informed her, "Not with people that I don't think really are evil in nature. But if it comes to a fight, I can't run and just leave you behind or something."

"Don't worry about it," she assured him, stepping past him towards the hut's exit, "I won't be long. If they're hostile just stall them. Make a lot of noise and I'll be right up here in a jiffy. Then we can run like hell."

"Deal."

xxxxx

Janus pitched forward as he exited the gate, his balance betraying him suddenly. He managed to angle the Murasame away from his body before he landed, narrowly avoiding an impalement, but the impact with the ground still knocked the wind out of him. In pain, he lay where he fell for several moments, gasping for air as his mind tried to reorient itself.

Finally he rolled over onto his back and watched as the gate shut. The world around him darkened in its wake. Wherever he was, it was nightfall. He could hear a steady roaring sound nearby that drowned out all other noise, the unmistakable sound of a waterfall. Groaning at the first real exertion his body had undergone in quite a while, he sat himself up to look around. Immediately, his memory answered his one final question.

This was Denadoro Peak.

The waterfall was indeed as he had heard as it cascaded down the cliff face before him, its droplets shimmering in the moonlight. Nestled nearby was a cave-the once home of the Masamune-its maw seemingly magnified in the nighttime. However his eyes were already adjusted to the darkness of Limbo and he could easily make out the details. Janus stared at it for the time being, not bothering to stand. His mind began to jump to conclusions.

_Was the Masamune back here?_ he thought to himself, _Would it all be so easy?_

He knew it was not, but he needed to check anyway. He was brought here for a reason, and there was a small chance the sword could have indeed been returned to the cave. He pushed off of the ground and shakily stood up.

Only to have his legs betray him once more. He managed to catch himself on his hands and knees this time, dropping the sword as he fell. It struck the dirt with a muted impact and lay patiently for him.

Something didn't feel right, his whole center of balance seemed wrong. Leaving the Murasame behind for the time being, Janus began to crawl towards a small pool that lay nearby. Hopefully a drink of water would clear his head. Reaching his destination, he cupped a gloved hand out to gather some, but then stopped himself when he noticed something in the reflection.

He pulled his hand back, trying his best to keep from disturbing the water's surface too much, and slowly began to pull himself over the pool, to get a better look.

_Is the dark playing tricks on me?_his thoughts remarked, trying to fight down the panic that was rising in him.

Hovering over the water, he could merely stare into it as the rippling surface slowly leveled itself out and became coherent. And then finally, in the reflection lit by the moon, he could clearly see something he wished he hadn't.

Staring back at him was the face of a frog.


	12. Chapter 12

CHRONO TRIGGER CULMINATIONS  
by  
Jerm

Chapter 12

* * *

Janus slapped his hand into the pool of water, shattering the moonlit reflection before him. Trying to fight down the panic that was building, he took a deep stuttering breath and fell back into a sitting position. With a fearful expression he held out his hand and slowly began to peel the glove away.

A webbed dark green hand emerged from within. Janus shoved the glove back on, hiding his deformity, and spun about to face the hilt of the Murasame with an accusing glare. "What have you done to me?!" he half yelled, half croaked.

He flinched at the foreign sound of his own voice, but it only added to his anger. The noise seemed to echo around the mountain, faint underneath the constantly roaring falls. The Murasame did not respond to him. It lay dormant where he had dropped it. Still not trusting his legs, he began to crawl on his hands and knees towards the silent sword. Snatching it up, he stared at the obsidian blade, its surface thankfully devoid of a reflection.

"What have you done to me?" he repeated, this time quieter, more subdued.

Murasame ignored him once more. He stared at the sword for several moments, then gave up. His arm dropped to the side, but retained a tight hold on the weapon. He looked up and peered at the starry sky above him, then heaved a deep sigh to calm himself down. The calm soon came as the shock wore off, and his mind began to work and put pieces together.

_This was Glenn's curse. But it was removed when I died... Why is it on me?_

Sheathing the sword into his cloak, he slowly stood on shaky legs. While he thought this over, he told himself, he could learn how to balance and walk on his new feet. Slowly he eased one foot forward, noting how the muscles flexed and the joints pivoted. Putting that foot down, he slowly brought his other up and foward, noting once again its feel, and this time becoming more accustomed to it.

_In fact, this is the location I placed that curse..._

He brought his feet together, straightening out his legs and making himself as narrow and as tall as possible. After a moment in this pose, he began to lean, tilting backwards as his balance faltered. Quickly, he dropped a foot back to catch himself, the reflex stopping his fall and resetting his balance. He made a note of it.

_There is a reason for this. It had to happen on purpose._ Janus sighed, realizing he was going in a circle now, _So my own curse is on me now. Murasame had to have done it, and had to have done it for a reason. So... Why?_

Nothing came to him, the thought reaching a dead end.

He bent his legs down and settled into a squatting position, then jumped as high as he could. Instantly he was reminded of one of the bonuses of this new frog form: stronger legs. The ground below him quickly shrank away as he almost seemed to have taken flight. His cape fluttered behind him and the cool wind felt soothing against his wet skin.

But he wasn't flying. After peaking at about twenty feet, gravity began to pull him back down. Unprepared to fall from this height, Janus could do nothing as his balance betrayed him once more and he began to tilt forward. Helplessly, his arms pinwheeled themselves in a vain attempt to right himself. The ground rushed towards him, and he realized at the rate he was going he would be landing face first. With every ounce of his strength, he twisted his body around to try and avoid that fate.

Janus landed hard on the dirt path with an audible grunt. His shoulder made first contact, taking the brunt of the impact, before the rest of his body followed suit. He felt pain shoot through his arm and knew instantly it had been dislocated. His other hand reached over and grasped the damaged arm, but that only made the pain worse. Janus gritted his teeth and rolled over onto his back. There was only one way to fix this.

Ignoring the pain as best he could, he tightened his grip on his shoulder, finding the point of separation. He tensed himself for what was about to happen. It was hurting now, but he knew it would be even worse fixing it.

_This really is a curse,_he thought to himself; and then with his magic, he forced his arm back into its socket.

The noise of his scream drowned out the roar of the waterfall.

xxxxx

"Rise and shine, Beta."

Cid's eyes slowly opened in response. Trying to make out his surroundings, he rubbed his eyes and squinted. He was under the bed, his back to the door and the person waking him. This jarred his memory and he remembered his meeting with Celia.

"Come one, get up," the voice persisted, and he now recognized it as Dr. Y's.

Glancing down at his shirt, he quickly wiped away the few remaining bread crumbs. The evidence removed, he then rolled over and faced the old man, "What do you want?"

The doctor was not alone, two guards had followed him inside Cid's room. They stared at him with bored looks on their faces, their guns held with the loosest of grips. The man between them in contrast only held a clipboard which he hugged across his chest with one arm.

Dr. Y smiled and glanced down at whatever was on his clipboard, his eyes darting left to right, then repeating as he read something. As he continued to study his page, he answered Cid, "We need to run a few more tests on you is all. Don't worry, it won't take long."

Cid crawled out from under his bed and stood, his legs complaining all the way. Before he was even squarely on his feet though, one of the guards broke out of his lazy stance and reached forward, striking like a snake. He grabbed Cid's arm and jerked him forward roughly.

"Hey!" Cid demanded, trying to fight his way out of the man's grip, "I'm cooperating, there's no need for that!"

In response, the guard spun him and slammed him against the wall, pinning him easily. Cid could feel the barrel of the man's gun press against his back and he stopped struggling. Behind him the guard responded, "I'll just make sure you don't have a reason to even think of _not_cooperating."

Cid waited and hoped for Dr. Y to reprimand the man for treating him like this, but only silence followed the ultimatum. He was on his own. The gun pulled away from his back and he was spun around once more, then before he could orient himself, he was shoved out the door. His legs couldn't keep up with his forward momentum and he pitched forward as he crossed through the threshold. He caught himself with his hands but couldn't stop his momentum. His tumble turned into a roll as he crossed the hall and slammed into the far wall. Footsteps trailed behind him and he heard a door shut.

"Get up, Cid."

For the sake of self-preservation, Cid fought down his initial response and slowly staggered back to his feet, using the wall for support. He turned around to stare back at the doctor, who smiled, "Good, follow me."

Dr. Y turned and walked down the hall, leaving Cid alone with the two guards who simply watched him. He got the hint. Putting one leg forward, he started to pace unevenly behind the doctor. The guards filed in behind him, making sure he didn't try an escape. He had to walk faster than his body wanted in order to keep up with the other man, and each step brought more pain to his legs. But he refused to show weakness. It would only encourage the guards to beat him around even more and he needed to save his strength for his real escape that he hoped Celia had planned.

He needed to save his strength just to fend off Lavos.

They reached the elevator again that would take them down to Project Lavos. As they stepped inside, a sense of fear that he had been able to hold down so far suddenly rose up his back. He had hoped they were going somewhere else this time. Performing some other test. As small a hope it had been, he had held onto it. A hope that the tests would be harmless and tame until he could be rescued. Those hopes were permanently removed as the doctor pressed the button that would seal his fate.

He would indeed need his strength to fend off Lavos again.

He looked into the reflection of the elevator doors, eyeing the guards behind him. They were still holding their guns loosely, casually. If he could take one...

But he knew he couldn't. Not only was he weaker than them, he was too scared to resist anymore.

The elevator stopped and the doors opened, revealing once again the nucleus of his fears. They stepped out and made a beeline down the path that led to Lavos. His state of panic began to rise with each step. Ahead of him, he could see two more guards waiting before the door that led to the final hall.

"How many times will I have to go through with this?" he demanded after working up the courage to speak again.

"We'll see," was the only response.

They reached the door and one of the guards quickly punched in the password, granting them entrance.

"Well _why_are you doing this?" he pressed after the door behind them slid shut, "Are you just torturing me?"

The doctor sighed, not breaking stride, "I will not hear another word from you. One way or the other."

Cid felt a jab behind him from one of the guards, getting the point instantly. He remained silent as they reached the final door. This time the doctor got the passcode correct his first try and the door slid open easily. Pitch black stared back at him from within. Then before he could think to move, rough hands grabbed at his shoulders. Cid became disoriented by the world spinning around him as he was literally thrown inside. He landed in a heap, the soreness wracking his body becoming stronger.

The door shut behind him and the panic within hit a boiling point as the darkness swallowed him. He began to hyperventilate as the faint glow of a monitor reached his eyes and he was once again staring at himself. Words flashed across the screen once more.

**I REMEMBER YOU**

xxxxx

Guardia Castle lay dormant beneath the moonlight, sullen and quiet. Though the war with Magus had ended years ago, peace was still a tentative thing, and guards continually patrolled its parapets. However, scores of uneventful nights left the patrollers bored and half-asleep. Their once proud posture toned down by the acceptance that nothing would _ever_happen on their watch.

Perfect conditions for the figure currently scaling the west wall.

His black cloak stood stark against the castle's grey in the dim light, but nobody thought to look there. There was no need, it would be humanly impossible to climb solid rock.

The being's webbed hands and feet however, were far from human. They stuck easily to the stone, one after the other as Janus made his way up. He paused for a moment as he reached a window, closing his amphibious eyes in concentration. The Masamune was near, its power blindingly bright to his mind's eye. Very near.

He reached over and grasped the lip of the window, then tugged himself through. The curtains stroked him soothingly as he passed through and his feet touched down noiselessly onto the rug of the dark bedroom. He ignored the resting figure mere feet from his position and eyed the chest resting against the far wall. Very near indeed.

He crept across the room silently, coming to a stop and kneeling before the container. It was locked of course, but he had little need for a key. Janus pressed his palm against the metal and focused sharply. A click erupted from within, echoing loudly.

Janus glanced behind him briefly, making sure the bed's occupant was still asleep. He was met by stoic silence. Satisfied, he fit his fingers under the lid and lifted slowly. The chest was in good condition however, and remained noiseless regardless of his efforts. A bright red glow filled the room as the chest opened, clashing bizarrely with Janus' green complexion. His large yellow eyes reflected the contents, his prize.

The Masamune.

Forgetting himself for a moment, he reached down to claim it. As his hand wrapped itself around the hilt he remembered what this was. But before he could draw away from the imminent blast of energy, two voices filled his mind.

_Glenn, welcome back._

_Yeah, we thought you'd leave us in that old box forever._

He fought down the panic, and then fought down the smile, realizing that bearing the guise of the frog was enough to fool the blade itself. He quickly thought up a response to whisper back to them, "Yes, your rest was well earned, but I have need for you again."

_Really?_

_I hope it's imps again. I hate those guys._

It had been unnoticeable at first, but now he felt it. There was a warmth against his leg, where he kept the broken black blade, getting hotter as time passed. Murasame detected his kin. Numbness began to grow along with the warmth, Janus ignored it as best he could as he continued to keep up his own facade. "No, it's something else," he responded finally.

The voices continued, but he mostly ignored them as he prepared himself for what he had to do next. He gripped the Masamune more tightly as he prepared to pull it up. But with this, a connection was made. The Murasame's darkness spread rapidly through his body, through his arm, and into the Masamune.

_Wait a moment,_ one of them finally said, realizing something at the final moment, _I thought you turned back into-_

The voice was silenced immediately as the blackness of Murasame enveloped the red blade.

Janus' entire body went numb and he staggered to his knees. The Masamune sliced downward as gravity overpowered his weakened arms and cleaved through the chest effortlessly to strike the ground below. A solid ringing of metal against stone erupted from this, a chorus to the sparks that shot into the air. Almost as an afterthought, the chest caught fire from the blade's power.

There was a shuffling sound behind him. Even if he had the strength to do so, Janus didn't need to look. He could sense his roommate was awakened by the commotion.

"What's going on here?" demanded the voice of Glenn, now cleaned of the interruption of a croak.

Janus didn't respond; he couldn't. His body was no longer his to control. His arms rose back up, bringing the Masamune with them and pointing it downward. Then they thrust the blade into the floor, burying it halfway into stone.

_What are you doing? _Masa or Mune demanded of him, he couldn't tell which.

He sensed Glenn approach, but before the knight could reach him, the flames jumped from the burning chest and wove themselves along a path of the carpet, encircling him. Protecting him. Janus' lips began to move, murmurring a chant he had used once before, long ago. His deadened arms reached into his cloak and drew the half-sword out. Finishing his incantation, he touched the broken tip of the blade against the dreamstone sword's center.

All noise seemed to stop when contact was made.

Where the black blade was touching, a crack formed. The crack expanded rapidly along the width of the Masamune, forming a jagged path. A red glow seeped from the wound like blood before it was enveloped by blackness.

And as it had done once before, long ago, the Masamune broke in two. Like a felled tree, the hilt slowly leaned over, picking up pace as it went. Then with a dead ring it struck the ground.

He reached forward to pick up the hilt end of the now-broken sword, but before he could touch it, hands grabbed his arms and yanked him away. Janus' legs spun him around rapidly to come face to face with a human Glenn. A burning blanket was draped around the green haired man, which he quickly cast off now that it had shielded him through the flames. "Who are you?" he demanded, his eyes set in anger, "You have no idea what you've done."

"I know," Murasame spoke through Janus' mouth, "I've done it once before."

Glenn's eyes widened as the realization swept through him. He quickly drew back his fist and punched at the frog, who nimbly dodged the attack, using its powerful legs to hop backwards over and beyond the flames. Landing softly, Janus retaliated quickly by throwing his free arm outward. In response to the gesture, the chest jumped from its spot on the ground and struck Glenn straight in the chest. Embers and ash exploded from the impact, showering the man. Glenn staggered back, stunned briefly. He tripped over the burning blanket he had cast aside and fell backwards into the fire that surrounded him.

He groaned in pain as the flames enveloped him, scorching his skin. Instinct kicked in and he quickly rolled away and out of it, jumping to his feet and batting out the sparks that remained with him. His eyes darted around him, searching desperately for a weapon of some sort.

_This won't be easy without the Masamune, _he thought to himself. The amphibian merely stared back with its large, yellow eyes, waiting for another opening. But before either of them could make a move, there was a loud knock from the door. "Sir Glenn," a voice boomed from the other side, "What's going on in there?"

Glenn's eyes darted to the door then back to his enemy, trying to gauge if he was distracted. "I'm being attacked!" he finally yelled back, "But be careful, it knows magic!"

The door began to open, but Janus quickly gestured towards it. The bed across the room flipped over, suspended upright on one corner briefly, before barrelling forward and slamming into the opening door, slamming it shut. The guards on the other end banged helplessly against the barricade.

But that was all the opening Glenn needed.

Taking advantage of the brief distraction, he dove forward and body tackled the morphed wizard into the ground. The fire raging around them died instantly, as if water had filled the room. Straddling the stunned frog, Glenn quickly reached forward to grasp the hilt of the Masamune half. However before he could reach the weapon, he felt something slimy wrap itself around his neck. he looked back down to see the frog had extended his tongue at him. The ropy muscle tightened as it pulled him away from the sword, beginning to slowly choke him.

Glenn flexed his neck muscles, trying to fight the strangulation as his hands vainly fumbled to find grip on the slippery tongue. His face turned red as he was lifted up onto just his toes.

No longer pinned to the ground, Janus stood back up and stared up at his victim triumphantly. He retracted his tongue, freeing a surprised Glenn who toppled over onto the ground. Janus turned around and reached once more for the Masamune's hilt.

"No!" Glenn cried and tried to throw himself at the wizard once more.

Something struck him in the head from above. It didn't feel solid, but the force of the impact threw him to the ground once more. Glenn turned his head up to see what had hit him to find a pillow suspended in the air. It spun once, then swung down again. He threw up his arm to shield his face, but the impact drove him down once more regardless. Repeatedly, the pillow struck him, keeping him pinned to the ground.

_So Murasame has a sense of humor after all... _Janus thought to himself as his still-numb armed picked up the Masamune's hilt. His other arm still held the hilt of the Murasame and he raised them up together. He crossed them against each other, and as they connected, the blackness flowed into the Masamune like a virus. The darkness enveloped it completely, trapping it. The other half of the red blade wasn't free of this affliction either. It too succumbed to the Murasame's black poison.

_This is self-destruction, you know, _the Masamune uttered, its last words.

And then, as if they were made of dust, the pieces disintegrated. The blackened powder of the dreamstone rained down on a now unconscious Glenn. The Masamune was destroyed completely.

_**Excellent job, **_Murasame uttered into his head, finally speaking.

The realization struck Janus. He wasn't meant to destroy it, he had been told merely to seal it. The Murasame fell from his hands and clattered onto the ground.

And with that, his body was his again. Not expecting this, Janus fell to the floor in a heap as his muscles gave out. He quickly jumped to his feet, scowling down at the silent black blade on the ground. He vocally repeated his thoughts, "What have you done? You didn't say to destroy it!"

An impact from the door still pinned shut by the bed drew his attention and he glanced away from the blade towards it.

_**No time to talk, sorcerer,**_ the voice replied, **_Pick me up and return to Limbo for your reward._**

"Answer me!" Janus demanded again, refusing to listen.

The guards threw themselves against the door once more and the bed began to give way.

**_I will give an explanation when time allows. Reclaim your weapon,_** the voice soothed, **_Your sister is counting on you._**

Janus stared at the hilt for several moments, glancing over briefly to the unconscious human beside it. He had begun something now and he had no idea where it would end. But for Schala's sake, he had to end it somehow.

He bent forward and picked up the sword.

Its power flowed through him once more, numbing his body, possessing it from him. This was the only path to the end, he told himself. The sword began drawing power from him, forming a red gate. A portal to Limbo. This was the only way to save his sister.

The door was thrown open roughly, throwing the bed away, but it was too late. There was nobody inside but Sir Glenn, lying limply in the center of a devastated room.


End file.
